LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to require routine inspections of massage parlors by health officials looking for signs of human trafficking.
Supervisor Janice Hahn recommended an ordinance that would apply to businesses in unincorporated areas of the county, including Quartz Hill, Littlerock and Lake Los Angeles.
“Some of the massage parlors in our communities have actually become safe havens for sex trafficking, for human trafficking,” Hahn said.
Supervisor Hilda Solis, who co-authored the motion, said she had seen such businesses opening in areas dominated by heavy industry, where they didn’t seem to fit. [View the motion here.]
“In the City of El Monte, where I live, there are many massage parlors popping up in obscure places,” Solis said.
Hahn mentioned signs offering massages for as low as $15.
“I’m afraid that it’s because they’re coercing people to work there for little or no money,” she said.
Sheriff’s Capt. Chris Marks of the department’s Human Trafficking Bureau cited “a massive increase” in the number of massage businesses and told the board that nearly every complaint that comes in to the bureau results in an arrest.
The sheriff’s department has partnered with Polaris, a nonprofit group working to combat human trafficking. Researchers with the group found that of 1,500 separate ads for women in the massage industry, roughly 25 percent used telephone numbers that matched those used by websites offering a variety of sexual services.
A representative of another advocacy group said California leads the nation in cases of human trafficking, which includes both sex and labor trafficking, based on data collected by the National Human Trafficking Hotline.
“Our clients are recruited under the guise of a massage business … and endure violence and severe threats and, of course, no pay and the inability to leave,” said Kay Buck, chief executive officer of the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking. “All of these women, very young women, are living in slave-like conditions.”
A draft ordinance is expected back within six months.
County staffers were also directed to coordinate with city managers to encourage them to adopt similar ordinances and contract with county health officials to perform inspections.
Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas said countywide cooperation would be critical to efforts to shut down human trafficking.
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Cv says
I been curious about these places i think theres 5 of them around 10th st lancaster off of J everyday when i walk by I wonder about. The inside. Like where i feel drawned on going in one of them and requesting a massage. Even though im a girl. I should send a man though that way I dont get kidnapped and trapped just in case , but i just get wierd feelings when i walk by.. I know the one across st from family court on J around11 pm i was walking by and this white suv with a man was parked out side and this younger lookin female was. Being escorted to the vehicle they were parked for a few mins beforbpulling out .. But yea the feelings i got wasnt good.. Who knows. But I guess im gonna investigate my self im way better then the dam poice… They would be put to shame .
justsayn says
why is it when someone wants to pass a new law they always go to the unincorporated areas ? how many massage parlors are there in lake los angeles, littlerock, or quartz hill ? just wondering coz I just might need a massage one day.
Laughing says
I have been thinking about this very question for awhile. What little legal training I has led me to a possible answer.
Passing laws within cities is more complicated than in the open county. If a group wants to start prosecuting crimes and making it stick then cases need to be won to push the law into cities. Get it to pass for unincorporated areas, win a few cases in a favorable court, voila, case law is made and move forward.
DoItWithLessMoney says
I hope this ends with a Happy Ending.
Jay. says
But they luv u long time.