Just the Ticket to Reduce Prostitution?

Police and elected officials are backing a proposal to treat some violations at massage Officials say the move could help curb prostitution in massage parlors that may be fronting as brothels.

The City Council gave tentative approval Monday to an ordinance that permits police to parlors as infractions rather than misdemeanors.

in unsanitary conditions or without a license, as infractions, or lesser crimes.

Officials say a conviction for an infraction is much easier to secure than one for a ticket crimes that are currently misdemeanors, such as violating the dress code and operating misdemeanor. A misdemeanor conviction requires prosecution by the district attorney’s office, which is sometimes too overwhelmed to handle such complaints, police said.

Misdemeanor arrests also grant the defendant a right to an attorney and a time-consuming jury trial. Infractions, on the other hand, are decided by a judge, if challenged, not a jury.

“Generally, with infractions, it’s just prosecuted like a traffic ticket,” City Atty. Thomas Kathe said. “We want to have the option.”

The new law, up for final approval in two weeks, does not downgrade prostitution to an infraction.

Sex for money is a misdemeanor under state law and police still plan to apply the law when appropriate.

But a conviction for an infraction of a lesser crime would allow the police chief to revoke a massage operator’s business license, effectively driving prostitutes from town, police said.

“The penalty is not the important part to us, the important part to us is to get a conviction,” Costa Mesa Police Lt. Ron Smith said. “Even though we haven’t made an arrest for prostitution, we can say, ‘Look at all of these arrests for unsanitary conditions.’ ”

Smith estimated there may be a dozen massage parlors in the city fronting for brothels.