Oakland's new approach to prostitution treats teenagers as victims

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Oakland police arrest a suspected teen prostitute recently during a weekly sweep. Oakland's officers are encouraged to find out the reasons a minor girl is caught up in the sex trade; they also are cracking down harder on pimps.

OAKLAND – As the sun set on a recent day, police arrested a teenage prostitute strutting down International Boulevard in a short black dress and gold heels – "Daddy" tattooed on her neck – before pulling over her pimp in a car.

Minutes later, they arrested another pimp with two more teenagers and, a few blocks away, yet another teenager whom they tried to coax into identifying her pimp.

In this city, which Assemblyman Sandré Swanson, D-Alameda, calls the epicenter of prostitution in Northern California, authorities are taking a new approach to combat the world's oldest trade.

Traditionally, police have focused on getting prostitutes off the street by arresting them – only to rearrest them a short time later because of the light sentences they receive.

But when the Oakland Police Department noticed a dramatic increase in underage prostitutes a few years ago, it set out to put away pimps and treat underage prostitutes as victims.

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