Law enforcement personnel in California arrested 120 people, including 105 in San Diego County, during a six-day operation last week targeting suspected commercial sex buyers and alleged human traffickers in four counties, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Monday during a San Diego news conference.
Dubbed “Operation Stand on Demand,” the focused effort began Jan. 19 and ran through Saturday, resulting in 25 arrests on suspicion of solicitation and eight on suspicion of pimping and pandering, Bonta said. The other 87 arrests were made on suspicion of loitering under a new state law that went into effect Jan. 1 and makes it a crime to loiter for the purpose of purchasing sex.
“The operation relied on targeted enforcement, surveillance of identified locations and the deployment of undercover officers, all with the goal of identifying sex buyers, traffickers and those exploiting people for profit,” Bonta said. “This work isn’t just about arrests, it’s about intervention, it’s about accountability and it’s about helping survivors begin the path to safety, recovery and healing.”
District Attorney Summer Stephan said members of the San Diego County Regional Human Trafficking Task Force made 105 arrests and citations locally at known trafficking “hot spots” in San Diego, National City, Santee and San Marcos.
Those individuals “thought that they were going to go out and buy a human being like they’re a hamburger or a slice of pizza,” Stephan said. “Instead they were faced by the power of (the task force) … to make sure that their plans did not go that way and that the message was clear that human beings are not for sale.”
In a statement, Stephan called the loitering law that went into effect on New Year’s Day a fresh tool for law enforcement officials to use to “hold individuals more accountable for these crimes than ever.”
Both Stephan and San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria sponsored the legislation, Assembly Bill 379, before Gov. Gavin Newsom signed it into law last year. The new law makes it a misdemeanor to loiter with the intent to purchase sex. It also makes it a felony for adults to solicit sex from someone who is 16 or 17 years old.
Bonta, Stephan and others who spoke Monday emphasized that last week’s operation targeted traffickers and buyers while offering services to victims and survivors.
“Centering survivors while directing enforcement at buyers and traffickers addresses the root of exploitation,” San Diego City Attorney Heather Ferbert said in a statement. “These collaborative efforts make clear that purchasing sex fuels exploitation, and our partners across agencies are aligned in holding offenders accountable and ensuring survivors have pathways to safety and services.”
Bonta said survivors of human and sex trafficking face coercion, fear, fraud and violence.
“Far too often they’re treated as criminals rather than as victims,” Bonta said. “That’s why California’s approach centers on reducing demand, disrupting trafficking networks and providing meaningful support to survivors.”
The operation, which involved personnel from at least 18 law enforcement agencies, also targeted suspects in Sacramento, Fresno and Tulare counties, authorities said. It was carried out during Human Trafficking Awareness Month.