Authorities say a lack of resources allows prostitution to flourish in Salinas.

Outside one Oldtown Salinas boutique, it isn’t uncommon to hear screams: “You need to pay me! You need to pay me!”


Prostitutes in the city – even within the relatively well-populated bounds of the business district – operate with impunity, some residents claim. The issue was brought up again at a recent Salinas City Council public safety meeting, when the security director of one motel chain said the city is known as a place where prostitutes can operate without being hassled by police.


“They don’t really try to hide it,” says an Oldtown boutique employee, who asked not to be named for safety reasons. “I think they just know that there’s not really a big threat to them.”


The Salinas Police Department acknowledges as much. It doesn’t have the resources to perform more than a few busts a year, often rounding up prostitutes and citing or arresting them. But those operations haven’t solved the problem, and critics say there may be a more effective method: targeting the customers.


The number of prostitutes operating in the city isn’t clear; police sweeps last year only rounded up a few dozen sex workers and johns. But Salinas Police Sgt. Kendall Gray says on a busy night in busy parts of the city, it wouldn’t be unheard of for 200 customers to show up.


Though police sympathize with concerned residents, prostitution isn’t at the top of their list. The unit assigned to prostitution is the same that deals with gang violence – a much more pressing threat.


When police bust prostitutes and johns, often their focus is on the people selling sex.


“I would compare it to targeting drug users versus drug dealers,” Gray says. “Both activities are illegal, but I prefer to get at the root of the issue, as it is a better investment in our limited time.” But some critics disagree, saying shaming johns would curb their activity. 


“The most effective way to stop prostitution, according to johns themselves, is any amount of time in jail, from an hour to a week,” says Melissa Farley, founder of the San Francisco-based nonprofit Prostitution Research & Education.


And it isn’t fair to be one-sided. Farley says prostitutes have often been victims of psychological torment and physical abuse, herded around the state even as children. Human trafficking is a more apt characterization, she says. 


“These are not people who have choices like the way you and I have choices,” she says.


The Oldtown boutique employee has another possible solution: Investigate motels or businesses that allow the activity to take place on their property.


But amid these suggestions is a simple reality. “There truly is a limited amount of time that we’re able to invest,” Gray says. “We do recognize that it is a problem.”