Police block a rise in escort services

Jose Paul Corona

To combat a rise police have seen in escort services in the city, they

asked the City Council to make it tougher for the businesses to set up

shop in Huntington Beach.

Huntington Beach Police Lt. Preston W. Linker said it isn’t difficult

for someone to find an escort -- all they need to do is pick up a copy of

the OC Weekly.

The tabloid magazine’s back pages are filled with black and white

pictures of escorts offering their services, Linker said.

“These are hardly dates,” Linker said, “I don’t think that’s what

these escorts are.”

Escorts and escort services are often fronts for prostitution, Linker

added.

When police officials noticed that more and more of the numbers listed

in those advertisements were originating in the city they decided to take

action.

The department asked the City Council do adopt an ordinance that would

require escort services to follow more formalized procedures when

applying for business licenses.

The council agreed, and adopted the proposed ordinance during its

meeting last week.

Councilwoman Connie Boardman said that the city doesn’t have a problem

with escort services but hopes that this ordinance will prevent them from

becoming a problem.

“[The ordinance] will discourage escort services from operating in

Huntington Beach,” Boardman said.

The new licensing procedure will require that anyone planning to open

an escort service pay a $500 licensing fee. Each individual employee of

the service would also have to pay a separate $125 fee.

Escorts would also have to be tested for sexually transmitted

diseases.

The ordinance will also ensure that anyone working for an escort

service doesn’t have a criminal record, Boardman said.

Prior to the new ordinance being adopted anyone who opened an escort

service in the city only needed a business license to operate.

The new licensing procedure will allow the police to more closely

monitor these types of businesses. Police hope it will also act as a

deterrent for anyone considering operating an illegitimate escort

service, Linker said.

“In most cases people won’t want to register,” Linker said.

The licensing fees will be used to defray the cost of police

investigations into escort related crimes or complaints.

Huntington Beach isn’t the first city in Orange County to adopt this

type of ordinance. Many cities already have similar ordinances in place,

Linker said.

“So actually we’re just catching up with some of our neighbors,” he

added.Of of the five Huntington Beach-based escort services listed in the

tabloid this week, four of the numbers listed were disconnected. Erotica

Escort’s refused to comment saying that they were “too busy.”

* JOSE PAUL CORONA covers City Hall and education. He can be reached

at (714) 965-7173 or by e-mail at o7 jose.corona@latimes.com.f7