Shocking footage shows women who appear to be sex workers walking up and down a stretch of street in front of a Catholic elementary school in California.
Dozens of videos taken by ABC News’ I-Team show the women outside St. Anthony’s in Oakland speaking to customers in cars parked in front of the school gates.
The footage aired just 30 days after California, under its governor Gavin Newsom, passed new legislation decriminalizing loitering for prostitution.
The Democratic lawmaker who sponsored the bill told ABC7 that under the old system, people were unfairly targeted because of their appearance, which would hit transgender people disproportionately hard.
Senator Scott Wiener continued to deny any allegation that the proliferation of sex workers outside of school was caused by his law, which went into effect on January 1. Instead, he argued that the problem had been an issue for decades.
Shocking footage shows women who look like prostitutes soliciting clients right outside a Catholic elementary school in Oakland, California
Weiner’s SB357 repealed existing laws that made loitering for solicitation into prostitution illegal. Prostitution in general remains illegal in California.
But other members of the community suggested that the phenomenon of sex workers loitering on Oakland’s East 15th Street was a worsening phenomenon, caused by construction that was driving them into the residential area where the schools were located.
“We don’t want our students to witness the dangers of human trafficking,” said Rodney Pierre-Antoine, who runs several Catholic elementary schools, including St. Anthony’s.
St. Anthony’s Parish has been part of the East Oakland community for more than 150 years.
When asked by ABC’s Stephanie Sierra if police were patrolling the area surrounding the school on a daily basis, he simply said, “They’re present.”
Pierre-Antoine also claimed that the introduction of the new bill meant that the police had not been able to police properly. “With the release of the loitering bill, their hands are kind of handcuffed,” he said.
“This is absolutely wrong, SB 357 has been in force for 30 days. This problem has existed for much longer,” Weiner said.
“The hands of the police are not tied. They can arrest people for advertising, they can cite vehicles parked in the middle of the street, they can arrest clients, they can arrest pimps. If they have reason to believe recruitment is taking place, they can arrest them for recruitment,” he said.
St. Anthony’s Parish has been part of the East Oakland community for more than 150 years
Democratic Senator Scott Wiener, who sponsored SB 357 that decriminalized loitering for the purpose of prostitution, insisted the law does not prevent police from dealing with the problem
By contrast, Rodney Pierre-Antoine, who oversees a group of Catholic schools including St Anthony’s, says police’s hands are “a bit tied”.
He said the old legislation was problematic and discriminatory. “It allowed the police officer to arrest a person not because of what they did, just because of a person’s appearance,” he said.
That meant people were being attacked by police for wearing tight clothing, high heels and extra lipstick, he said.
However, Weiner acknowledged the fears of parents concerned that their children are being exposed to prostitution so close to school.
“These recordings are very disturbing. We don’t want schools to encourage sex work,” he said. He also accused the police of using his bill as an excuse for not cleaning up the area properly.
“I think it’s a cop for the police to openly say that this brand new law is somehow at fault,” he told ABC7.
Community members, including community father Ghebriel Woldai, told the broadcaster the problems ran deeper and that a pimp influx had also led to a rise in violent crime and confrontations between pimps and gang members.
“When it comes to violent shooting, sometimes we see that kind of thing, it scares me a lot,” Father Ghebriel said. “We feel powerless, we only pray.”
St Anthony’s vicar, Ghebriel Woldai, said he felt powerless to remedy the situation outside the school gates and had no choice but to pray
In a statement to ABC7, the Oakland Police Department said it has deployed additional patrols to the area and is actively addressing the issue.
The police department also said it was implementing a “Dear John letter” strategy to address the problem and discourage clients from visiting the neighborhood and recruiting sex workers.
“OPD also uses various programs like the Dear John letter. These letters are from citizens reporting license plates in areas of high crime and loitering in the city of Oakland.
“This letter was written to advise the driver and not to accuse the driver of engaging in illegal activities, but to inform the owner that the car has been sighted in known prostitution areas,” they wrote.