From the Globe Oakland Desk

Assemblyman Sandré Swanson (D - Oakland) has expressed his support for the Oakland Police Department, the San Francisco Chief of Police, representatives from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and advocates for sexually exploited minors.

Swanson made his remarks at a press conference to unveil the results of a regional undercover operation to get sexually exploited minors off the streets and into safe havens. Swanson is pushing a measure in the legislature that would treat underage prostitutes as victims, AB 499, and applauds the Oakland Police Department for adopting the same, humane approach in their operation.

 “I am very pleased that these young children are turned over to child advocates and not placed into the penal system. Underage prostitution is akin to domestic trafficking and our laws that treat children as criminals are misguided,” Swanson noted.

With the advent of the internet and text messaging, the exploitation of youth has rapidly increased, requiring more mindfulness of the vulnerability of young people. Since 2002, the number of sexually exploited minors in Northern California has tripled.

The law as it stands does not adequately provide for the delivery of specialized services that sexually exploited children need, according to Swanson, which is why he introduced AB 499 to allow law enforcement officials to identify sexually exploited minors as victims, and not criminals.

This would allow authorities to utilize and develop specialized services that focus on creating and providing a safe environment with sufficient counseling and social services to protect these victims of sexual exploitation, as opposed to simply jailing and releasing them back onto the streets, according to Swanson.

“Law enforcement, government, and community advocates need to work together to aggressively address this growing problem. Our children’s survival and welfare depends on it,” Swanson said.