Vallejo Neighborhood Watch Groups Take On Increase In Prostitution
VALLEJO (KCBS) - Prostitution has been on the rise in Vallejo, and now some neighborhood watch groups are taking matters into their own hands.
"I'm one of the neighborhood watch captains," said Loni Meyers with the Ohio Street Watchdogs, one of the neighborhood groups now targeting prostitution. "I patrol the neighborhood in my car. I take pictures of prostitutes and sometimes even videos."
KCBS' Dave Padilla Reports:
Meyers said that the increase in streetwalking in her area appears to have begun last summer.
Tony Pearsall, a former Vallejo police officer runs the group Fighting Back Partnership, and is holding public safety training classes for volunteers who want to put pressure on prostitutes throughout downtown.
"They will see us out there and they will know that we're a team," said Pearsall. "We're going to have notepads and cameras out there."
Pearsall doesn't believe we can blame the city's bankruptcy for the uptick, but instead the economy as a whole, along with drugs and alcoholism.
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