413047-Underground-Commercial-Sex-Economy

always look for the most vulnerable. They sometimes look for a challenge. As one federal law enforcement
officer explained, “Just like we have that term: using the toolbox. You use that to go at this target or
whatever but they have a toolbox and they look at every girl differently and they go, “What am I going to
use on her” They will be the boyfriend, the father figure, the lover or whatever to get what they want.”
Pimps, particularly those involved in a gang, may brand a girl to visually show ownership over her. One
local law enforcement officer described the process:
A lot of times you know the area because the girls are branded. They’ll have the guy’s
name and it won’t be like on their arm, it’ll be lower back, it’ll be groin area, on their side
so that way when they’re having sex or when they get naked, the customer knows exactly
who she belongs to in case another gang member is involved. They know exactly who the
guy is and it could be the guy’s flame or it could be the guy’s street mark. (San Diego Law
Enforcement Official)
Due to the common misconception that pimps feed drugs to their employees to make them compliant and
dependent, stakeholders in San Diego were surprised to learn this was not the case. A pimp may party
with his girls as part of the grooming process, but once the girls start working for him, he makes sure his
“merchandise” is clean and sober. The only drugs stakeholders have to be commonly given to sex workers
are ecstasy and marijuana. As one local prosecutor stated,
Typically, most pimps don’t want girls on drugs or alcohol. Everyone thinks they’re drug
addicts. A pimp has to trust a girl. If he thinks she’s gonna use it for smack, it’s a liability.
He has to trust that the money will come back to him. (San Diego Law Enforcement
Official)
Since most of the women working the streets are now pimp-controlled and not allowed to abuse drugs,
law enforcement has seen a decrease in the number of drug-addicted sex workers.
Physical abuse is used by pimps to keep a girl “in pocket.” However, they are careful about where they
inflict abuse so that the bruises, scratches, and cuts can easily be covered:
Probably half the girls we get have bruises. Usually not on the face, because that’s where
everybody sees, but they’ll be marks on their arms and legs and you can tell where they’ve
been hit or they’ve been grabbed so it’s gonna be either by the john or by the pimp, more
so probably by the pimp. (San Diego Law Enforcement Official)
Pimps also have bottoms physically discipline other women and girls so that they cannot be directly linked
to the abuse and are seen as the “good cop,” thereby keeping girls from leaving by using more
psychological manipulation.
As law enforcement noted in other cities and was echoed in San Diego as well, men purchasing sex are not
preferential offenders (i.e. pedophiles). Additionally, pimps are not advertising girls as underage, nor are
they marketing them on the street to pedophiles. San Diego does have a unique customer base: military
men. With a large concentration of men with money to spend, military bases provide high demand for the
underground commercial sex market:
There’s some military housing or whatever military bases down in south San Diego where
they’ll order up the prostitute, they’ll go to military housing, they’ll negotiate with the
sailor and tell him that if you give me your apartment for the week, I’ll give you unlimited
sex then I’ll give you some money kickback so then the girls start operating out of there
selling to all their Navy guys so then it’s on the bases now. (San Diego Law Enforcement
Official)
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