In December, San Jose Special Operations METRO Unit Officers learned that a commercial property in the 2400 block of Autumnvale Drive housed an illegal gambling establishment that also offered illegal drugs and prostitution.

Undercover operation busts three Stockton men on pandering and weapons charges

Additional brothels were found throughout Santa Clara County and search warrants were served in Milpitas, San Jose, and Palo Alto, police said.

With no evidence of a Big Game-related spike, the crackdown on trafficked humans more often than not targets sex workers and consenting adults.

Operation Cross Country, a three-day nationwide enforcement campaign by the FBI focusing on underage victims of sex trafficking, recently concluded with the rescue of 105 sexually exploited children and the arrests of 150 pimps and other individuals. In the Bay Area, 12 children were rescued from pimps. While the issue is not new for runaway programs, aggressive pimps going after these young people is now more common. Vulnerable youth, especially those on the run, are often preyed upon by pimps. Studies show that runaways are often identified and targeted by pimps within 48 hours of hitting the streets. Runaway programs need to learn how keep young people safe and must work with local law enforcement when victims seek help from runaway shelters.

Last fall, more than 200 residents from the four neighborhoods that comprise the Washington community—Goodyear/Mastic, Tamien, Guadalupe/Washington, and Alma—assembled at the corner of South First/Monterey and Oak to fight back against the increase of prostitution in our community.

Omar Torres, executive director of the local nonprofit Santa Maria Urban Ministry (SMUM), joins San Jose Inside as a new columnist. In addition to writing about his work as a community organizer, Torres, who is an elected member of the Democratic Central Committee, will break down how politics work behind the scenes in San Jose and Santa Clara County.

Prostitutes, look out. One of San Jose’s downtown neighborhoods is coming for you. A press release sent out by Councilmember Sam Liccardo’s office says that at 6:30pm tonight, community members of the Guadalupe-Washington neighborhood and Santa Maria Urban Ministry will march along South First Street in front of Biblioteca Latinoamericana, located at 921 S. 1st Street.

The Secret Service agents implicated in the prostitution scandal last week in Columbia probably never saw Mike Wallace’s 60 minutes interview with agent Clint Hill. If the agents had, there wouldn’t be a scandal.