San Francisco, L.A. and other California cities have struggled with prostitution for years
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Fox News senior correspondent Claudia Cowan reports on the liberal city’s voters broadening police powers after years of spiraling crime and drug use.
San Francisco residents are calling on local officials to enforce the law after an unnamed witness shared a video of a woman beating a homeless person on the street.
"It's a problem that they've allowed to exist and they seem to accept it and we're suffering," a woman who went by "Jane" to maintain her privacy, told CBS News Bay Area.
"She was sitting on top of this woman and beating her, hitting her on the head and chest very hard and screaming," Jane said of the violence that she witnessed.
Jane told CBS News Bay Area that the law is enforced more vigorously in other neighborhoods in San Francisco.
"They're not enforcing the law here in the way that perhaps they do in some other neighborhoods," she said.
SAN FRANCISCO CRIME PROBLEMS LEAVE ASIAN AMERICANS FRUSTRATED, ANGRY WITH MAYOR BREED: REPORT
San Francisco residents are calling on local officials to enforce the law after an unnamed witness shared a video of a woman beating a homeless person on the street. (Getty Images)
"I saw, apparently, a woman thrown out of a car. I've seen women fighting, but I haven't seen someone being really beaten on like that," Jane said of previous incidents.
"I want to see enforcement," she added.
Trevor Chandler, a candidate for District 9 supervisor in San Francisco, supports more police presence and other policy responses to help increase the quality of life for residents.
"I'm not surprised, but I am horrified by it," Chandler told CBS of the attack on the homeless person, "because the neighbors have been talking about this for years and they just feel like they have gotten no response."
SAN FRANCISCO CRIME PROBLEM RUNS DEEPER THAN ROSY STATISTICS FROM CITY, EXPERT SAYS
California continues to struggle with a prostitution problem, as SB 1219, authored by state Republican Sen. Kelly Seyarto, would reinstitute a provision previously taken out of California's penal code that prohibited loitering in a public place. (Fox News Digital )
"I'm one of the only candidates who supports a fully staffed police department," Chandler said. "And it's not because I think it solves all our problems, but it does allow the city to more effectively address these quality of life issues."
California continues to struggle with a prostitution problem, as SB 1219, authored by state Republican Sen. Kelly Seyarto, would reinstitute a provision previously taken out of California's penal code that prohibited loitering in a public place.
San Francisco Democrat Scott Wiener previously authored that bill, known as SB 357, or the Safer Streets for All Act. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed it into law in 2022, but critics say the law has promoted brazen prostitution and sex trafficking on city streets, such as in Oakland, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego.
L.A.’s Figueroa Street, also known as "The Blade," for example, has become inundated with prostitutes and pimps, according to the police. Pictures that have circulated widely on social media show young women wearing thongs and fishnets, often with their breasts exposed while standing and even twerking in broad daylight on street corners.
"The incumbent-endorsed policy of ignoring neighborhood concerns until they become a crisis is unacceptable," Chandler said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "Mission residents are tired of being ignored and are simply asking for the basics: safe and clean streets. It’s time to get back to basics and fully staff SFPD so we can respond effectively to these very real quality of life issues."
The San Francisco Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Fox News' Jamie Joseph and Emma Colton contributed to this report.
Jeffrey Clark is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. He has previously served as a speechwriter for a cabinet secretary and as a Fulbright teacher in South Korea. Jeffrey graduated from the University of Iowa in 2019 with a degree in English and History.
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