City OKs Shame Campaign to Spotlight Sepulveda ‘Johns’ : Van Nuys: Bernson spearheads measure to have LAPD provide media outlets with weekly lists of convicted clients of prostitutes.

Spurred by complaints of street prostitution in broad daylight along Sepulveda Boulevard, city officials Monday directed police to compile weekly lists of the names of convicted customers for the media to publish or broadcast.

The Los Angeles City Council’s unanimous decision was aimed at reducing the number of hookers who prowl Sepulveda by publicly shaming the people who keep them in business.

“This will be a deterrent” to would-be “johns,” said Councilman Hal Bernson, who introduced the motion. “We hope it will help solve the problem.”

Under Bernson’s measure, the Los Angeles Police Department’s Van Nuys Division is to furnish newspapers, radio and television stations with weekly lists of those found guilty of picking up prostitutes in its jurisdiction. Each week, an average of a dozen people are arrested on suspicion of soliciting prostitutes in the Van Nuys area, authorities say.

It would remain at the discretion of the media outlets whether to publicize the names. The list also would probably include at least partial addresses to avoid confusion with people bearing the same or similar names, said Assistant City Atty. Byron Boeckman, whose office will scrutinize the measure.

In addition to contacting major news organizations, Bernson said he would try to air the names over the city’s cable TV channel.

“If The Times and the Daily News don’t choose to publish them, then maybe we’ll put them out over Channel 35. But I think it’s the duty of the L.A. Times” to make its readers aware of those who have been caught soliciting, Bernson said.

“The Los Angeles Times is committed to publishing stories of broad community interest and relevance,” said Carol Stogsdill, senior editor of The Times, in response to Bernson’s suggestion. “As a general rule, this does not include the many hundreds of misdemeanor arrests and convictions in the Southern California region that occur annually. We certainly would not think of running a list without independently verifying the information, and we think our resources can be better spent on covering issues of deeper significance to the people of Los Angeles.”

Bernson’s motion resurrects an idea that had a brief run 13 years ago when then-City Atty. Ira Reiner distributed lists of prostitution arrestees to the media for print or broadcast. Only two news outlets took up his offer. After a judge prohibited Reiner from releasing the arrestees’ addresses, the campaign died.

Bernson’s original plan also called for releasing the names of those arrested, but potential legal problems over a presumption of guilt and invasion of privacy restricted the proposal to those convicted.

Roger Jon Diamond, a Santa Monica First Amendment and civil rights attorney who challenged Reiner’s policy in 1982, said sticking to a list of those found guilty in court would put the city on safer legal ground. However, he criticized the council’s decision as a misplaced priority.

“Is it the function of the media to shame people? The function of the media is to give news. They’re not an arm of the prosecution,” Diamond said.

And other cities’ experience with similar policies does not suggest that printing or airing names in the local media acts as an effective deterrent, especially since many customers come from out of town in order to avoid being recognized.

In Long Beach, where the Press-Telegram has published a monthly list of convicted johns for almost a year, police officials report that the number of arrests has stayed level.

Bernson’s measure is subject to review in three months. “If it works, I think the council will be interested” in implementing the policy citywide, said Bernson, who nonetheless has insisted he is not on a crusade to put a stop to the world’s oldest profession.

His plan to publicize names grew out of complaints from a number of neighbors and merchants along Sepulveda Boulevard, who alleged that men would often cruise the street and pick up prostitutes in plain view of residents and children.

Many of the area’s residents have pushed for a public embarrassment campaign for years to drive away men who descend on their neighborhood in search of sex for cash.