City of Stanton using cameras with recorded audio messages to help decrease prostitution

STANTON, Calif. (KABC) -- Community members, law enforcement and city staff say mobile cameras with flashing blue lights along Beach Boulevard in Stanton are helping decrease prostitution in the city.

A look at the "Safe Streets Together" operation

Resident Quy Tran has made several calls to the Orange County Sheriff's Department for suspected prostitution. In video shared with Eyewitness News, you can see a parked pickup truck with its lights on just after midnight in September.

That caught Tran's attention.

"They stay there for long time," he said. "Twenty minutes and I called police, you know, but lucky, at that time, I don't know why, police ... they came right away so they caught them."

That quick response could be because of new cameras that are helping investigators watch areas in Stanton where prostitution is an issue.

Capt. Ryan Pierce, the chief of Stanton Police Services with the OCSD, said prostitution has been an ongoing issue for years.

"The problem has been persistent over the years," he said. "It's ebbed and flowed, so to speak. When I came to the city in April of this year, there was a substantial amount of foot traffic in those areas."

As of this past summer, law enforcement has livestream access to four hotpots along Beach Boulevard, like the one at the intersection with Starr Street where Tran lives.

"They walk into my community very often around like midnight or after midnight and they lay around on the barbecue, you know, like area," Tran said, adding, "a lot of condoms on the ground. That's terrible."

Employees of nearby businesses shared similar complaints.

Kristie Richards, the storeroom manager at Kim's Piano, said prostitution doesn't allow for a family-friendly atmosphere for recitals or teaching, and said it doesn't happen only at night.

"It's like morning, these ladies are being dropped off, and so they are visible and they are oftentimes hanging out here, you know during, the day," said Richards.

Since the installation of the solar-powered cameras, people say there's a difference.

"A lot different," Tran said.

"We'll see how it holds. We don't really know yet, but definitely some immediate results. I think we did see a decline," Richards said.

According Stanton City Manager Hannah Shin-Heydorn, the first two cameras went up in July. Their success prompted the installation of more in September.

Because they're on wheels, city staff can place them in different locations as needed. The cameras are part of the Safe Streets Together Campaign, funded by the General Fund Special Projects Budget.

The latest two cameras cost $39,000 each.

But the fine tuning continues, like the audio recording coming from the speaker on some of the devices.

The recording issues a warning and can be changed.

"Warning, you are entering an area known for prostitution and human trafficking. Prostitution and human trafficking are serious crimes that are illegal under both state and federal laws. These activities not only exploit vulnerable individuals, but also perpetuate cycles of violence and abuse. If you suspect someone is a victim of human trafficking or prostitution, please call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888."

Stanton Councilmember Gary Taylor admitted there's a fine line to addressing sex workers.

"If they're at a location, we're not accusing them of anything. We're just letting them know that this is an area that we keep an eye on, that we're just proactive in it, that we don't want to have illegal things going on in our areas and we're really not, I don't think, profiling as much," Taylor said.

Pierce said the cameras also help discourage the so-called "Johns" seeking prostitutes.

"If the individuals are out on the street and people coming to solicit prostitution see cameras, it deters them from actually even stopping," he said.

The Safe Streets Together campaign goes beyond the cameras.

According to the OCSD, since July, deputies have conducted 11 undercover operations, leading to 24 pimping and pandering arrests, four human trafficking-related arrests and the recovery of nine missing juveniles or human trafficking victims.

Investigators said they encounter human trafficking victims of all ages and give them resources to help take them off the streets, but only some of them take them up on that offer.