Prostitution Problem Rising In Vallejo
VALLEJO (KCBS) – The city of Vallejo, which has already undergone bankruptcy, is now facing another challenging problem.
Prostitution is growing with women who are much younger than before. Part of the problem is that fewer police are patrolling the streets and they can't dedicate as much time to cracking down on prostitution.
KCBS' Dave Padilla Reports:
Susie Foreman, who runs a transitional housing program for women, said she doesn't blame police for not going after "johns" and pimps as much, but prostitutes, many of whom are minors, are not getting the help they need.
"It's somebody's daughter, it's somebody's sister. They're lost out there, they're forced out there," Foreman said. "They're scared, they're afraid they'll get beat up if they don't go out there and make the money."
Foreman is also a member of the city's Prostitution Task Force, which is working on solutions for helping to get prostitutes off the streets.
"It used to be 5-10 women out there. When word of mouth spread that it was not really a priority for the police here, all of a sudden, we started seeing 5-6 girls on every corner," said John Allen of Fighting Back Partnership.
Like Foreman, Allen said community members are trying to band together to prevent the problem from getting worse.
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