VAN NUYS : Funds to Be Used Against Prostitution
Police have begun using about $15,000 from Los Angeles City Councilman Marvin Braude’s office to step up arrests of prostitutes and their customers along Sepulveda Boulevard in Van Nuys, police said Monday.
Most of the $15,000 will be used to pay for overtime for Van Nuys station vice officers, who operate a patrol car that arrests prostitutes and their customers.
Police said some of the funds to battle prostitution will be spent on sting operations in which female officers pose as prostitutes to arrest men who solicit them.
“It’s amazing how these guys line up,” said Officer Thomas Mason of the prostitution enforcement detail. “We’re talking anywhere from 30 to 45 in a day.”
Although he has noted a decrease in prostitution activity along Sepulveda, Capt. Jim McMurray nevertheless called Braude’s funding wonderful, saying it will be used to supplement the department’s dwindling resources.
Another $20,000 from Braude’s office will be used on officer overtime to fight other kinds of street crime along Sepulveda Boulevard.
Don Schultz, president of the Van Nuys Homeowners Assn., said the new funds to battle prostitution could not have come at a better time.
“As it is warming up, we expect the prostitute activity to heat up,” Schultz said.
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