Report: Prostitution Problem Along Lankershim Growing
There were 164 arrests for prostitution last year in the area.
Photos
Prostitution along Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood and Sun Valley has been a long-term problem.
A year ago at a North Hollywood North East Neighborhood Council Meeting, Esther Vasquez, a Senior Lead Officer with the Los Angeles Police Department Foothill Division, said the problem was particularly bad around Lankershim Boulevard and San Fernando Road in Sun Valley just north of North Hollywood.
“We had drop-off points, we had four and five girls getting out of cars. It was really bad,” said Vasquez.
While the problem is concentrated in that area, it extends far south well into North Hollywood along Lankershim. The LAPD patrols the area and makes frequent arrests, like in August when Patch listened to police scanner and reported about a vice squad undercover sting operation along Lankershim.
But despite the efforts, the LAPD has been unable to significantly control the problem. There were 164 arrests for prostitution last year in the area, according to the Daily News, down slightly from the year before. The Daily News also reported that local residents in Sun Valley feel the problem is getting worse and is negatively impacting many businesses. Residents also said that prostitutes arrested in the area quickly return. Reports of women being driven in large groups from other parts of the city in vans and dropped off are still occurring, according to the report.
Read more about the problem in these previous stories:
Scanner Report: Prostitution Sting in the Valley
Follow LAPD Officers on Undercover Prostitution Sting
VIDEO: Mid-Town NoHo NC Discusses Prostitution on Lankershim, High-Speed Rail
5 Men Charged With Forcing Minors Into Prostitution in North Hollywood
North Hollywood North East Neighborhood Council Discusses Crime, Upcoming Elections
John J. Nazarian
1:15 pm on Sunday, February 5, 2012
With the resources of the LAPD at all time lows, maybe we can focus on bigger issues? Sure I know all the rhetoric, this brings drugs ( already here ) this brings more crime ( that too is alive and well ). The girls and the pot 'scam' dispensaries are already here, I think the girls bring some color to the landscape.
And when you think of it so what, guys are are always going to pay for it one way or the other....dont think so? File for a DIVORCE! Break it down over the years of the marriage? Hookers would have been cheaper!
John J. Nazarian, P.I.
desperateexes.com
Lightnapper
2:15 pm on Sunday, February 5, 2012
They're using the outside tables located at McDonalds between Webb and Lankershim as a resting point. The bus bench on Lankershim at Burger King as a flag down area. A pimp stands nearby. They enter the John's car in the parking lot of Burger King and then go around the corner on Strathern to do the deed. They're getting dropped back off at the Food 4 Less. From Saticoy to Tuxford, the area is wide open for Hookers. It's occurring during the daytime, and it is very obvious. In the last six months, the crime rate near Lankershim and Strathern has escalated with an increase in aggravated assaults, robberies, and thefts from vehicles.
bophisto
9:57 am on Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Lightnapper, thank you for the comment. I live nearby too. This prostitution problem isn't super recent , it has been going on for a while. How hard would it be for the city to really crackdown on this? Can we stop giving people tickets on their way to work for a couple weeks and really focus on this prostitution epidemic that is destroying the area?
Alex Daniels
9:42 am on Thursday, February 9, 2012
Once the city of LA respects these areas by cleaning up Lankershim and picking up the trash around this pig steigh of a neighborhood, then maybe some of the undesirable activity will cease...
.