The San Rafael Police cited five men Friday night after they allegedly agreed to pay for sex in an undercover prostitution sting. Police officials said the operation was spurred by a recent rise in complaints about prostitution from local businesses and residents in San Rafael's Canal neighborhood.
But as Patch observed on Friday night, the police can target prostitution clients, or "johns," in an attempt to curb the illegal behavior that has been linked to violent crimes.
Police had a female officer pose as a prostitute on San Rafael's "track" Friday night. Several Bay Area towns, including San Rafael, Santa Rosa, San Jose and Vallejo, have prostitution "tracks," where pimps regularly drop off girls before they perform other crimes, such as armed robberies, in the same area, according to San Rafael Police Lt. Dan Fink. In the past year, there have been documented prostitution-related cases in the Canal, according to the San Rafael Police. San Rafael's undercover officer posed as a prostitute Friday night in the heart of Marin's only prostitution track, a two-block stretch on Medway Road near the 7-Eleven, between East Francisco Blvd.
Contrary to what many might expect a hooker to dress like Pretty Women , anyone? And it fit the bill. She had no problem getting the attention of johns, even immediately after the operation began in the daylight around p. Her colleagues were nearby, keeping a clandestine eye on her from two strategically-placed undercover cars.
Many men used the key phrase β "business? A few lost interest after told them she didn't have a phone number to give out. In today's prostitution world, it's more common for the women to give out cards with their phone numbers on them, Fink said. Then, the prostitutes often make house calls instead of joining a man in his car or meeting him a hotel room.
