Vice In Los Angeles - Robert Nickelsberg

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Vice in Los Angeles

For four days in May of 2017 I shadowed the Los Angeles Police Department’s South Bureau Vice Squad to document sex traffickingin south L.A.forTime magazine. The Bloods and the Cripshave historically controlled illicit operations in the neighborhoods around south Los Angeles. The commercial sex tradeis an illegal yet open business centered along Figueroa Street. Gang members act as pimps and take advantage of young women and girls, often from foster care homes or abusive families, and force them into prostitution. The pimps control rackets by strategically placing their “stable” of 3 to 5 coerced sex workers on various street corners day and night while younger gang members keep watch for police on the streets. The women are required to work until they have earned $500 for their pimps each day.

During one sting operation set up by the vice squad at 5:30am, the plain-clothes officers hit their full capacity in less than an hour, arresting 13 women on the charge of soliciting sex. What followed is a familiar cycle for many victims of sex trafficking: arrest, booking, most likely a misdemeanor charge, and a day or two in jail until their pimp bails them out to get them back on the street.

The demographics of prostitution arrests in Los Angeles demonstrate that a disproportionate number of women of color, particularly Black and Latinx, face arrests and charges for the solicitation of sex, though they are likely victims of forced prostitution. While Black women make up around 9% of the female population of Los Angeles, they account for nearly 65% of the LAPD’s female prostitution arrests. Both systems- the gangs and the police- render Black and Latinx women the most vulnerable to this cycle. As these women become further entangled in “the life”, they are more susceptible to drug and alcohol abuse and domestic violence, which complicates efforts to leave or seek help.

View fullsize May 16, 2017: Officers of the Los Angeles Police Department's Vice Squad confront three women in the southeast area of Los Angeles, California, issuing them warnings for loitering for the purposes of prostitution - a municipal code violation. View fullsize May 17, 2017: Officers of the Los Angeles Police Department's Vice Squad arrest a 17-year old woman in the south east area of Los Angeles, California for soliciting an undercover police officer for the purpose of prostitution. View fullsize May 17, 2017: Officers of the Los Angeles Police Department's vice squad arrest a 17-year old woman in the southeast area of Los Angeles, California for soliciting an undercover police officer for the purpose of prostitution. View fullsize May 17, 2017: Officers of the Los Angeles Police Department's vice squad transport a 17-year old woman to a state agency for minors following her arrest in the southeast area of Los Angeles, California. The under-age woman was arrested for solicitin View fullsize May 17, 2017: An officer of the Los Angeles Police Department fingerprints a 17-year old woman following her arrest in the southeast area of Los Angeles, California for soliciting an undercover police officer for the purpose of prostitution. View fullsize May 18, 2017: Officers of the Los Angeles Police Department's vice squad arrest a woman in the southeast area of Los Angeles, California for soliciting an undercover police officer for the purpose of prostitution. On this morning, thirteen women wer View fullsize May 18, 2017: Officers of the Los Angeles Police Department's vice squad arrest a woman in the southeast area of Los Angeles, California for soliciting an undercover police officer for the purpose of prostitution. On this morning, thirteen women wer View fullsize May 18, 2017: Sgt Scott Carty, center, an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department's vice squad, arrests three  women in the southeast area of Los Angeles, California for soliciting undercover police officers for the purpose of prostituti View fullsize May 18, 2017: Officers of the Los Angeles Police Department's vice squad arrest three women in the southeast area of Los Angeles, California for soliciting undercover police officers for the purpose of prostitution, a misdemeanor charge. View fullsize May 18, 2017: Sgt Scott Carty, left, an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department's vice squad, escorts 13 women arrested earlier in the day to a holding cell at the South East division's police headquarters in Los Angeles, California. The wome View fullsize May 18, 2017: Officers of the Los Angeles Police Department's vice squad prepare thirteen women for transportation after being arrested for prostitution in the southeast area of Los Angeles, California. The women were arrested for soliciting underco View fullsize May 18, 2017: Officers of the Los Angeles Police Department's vice squad direct women arrested for prostitution in the southeast area of Los Angeles, California into a van. The women were arrested for soliciting undercover police officers for the pu View fullsize May 22, 2017: A woman arrested for prostitution, center top, speaks to an officer from the Los Angeles Police Department's vice squad in the southern area of Los Angeles, California. The woman was arrested for soliciting an undercover police officer View fullsize May 22, 2017: An officer of the Los Angeles Police Department's vice squad, left, speaks to an arrested woman, right, in a police holding cell in the southern area of Los Angeles, California. The women seen inside the holding cell were arrested for View fullsize May 16, 2017: Officers of the Los Angeles Police Department's vice squad arrest a woman in the southeast area of Los Angeles, California for soliciting an undercover police officer for the purpose of prostitution, a misdemeanor charge. View fullsize May 16, 2017: An officer of the Los Angeles Police Department's vice squad, right, monitors a 17-year old woman before she's transported to a state agency for minors following her arrest in the south east area of Los Angeles, California. The under-a View fullsize May 22, 2017: A woman arrested for prostitution speaks to officers from the Los Angeles Police Department's vice squad in the southern area of Los Angeles, California. She was arrested for soliciting an undercover police officer for the purpose of p

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