San Francisco residents unleash on blue city’s failure to curb ‘brutal sex trafficking’ rampant on streets

Residents of San Francisco’s Mission District slammed the city for failing constituents, especially minority residents, as “brutal sex trafficking,” menacing pimps and distracted johns brazenly take over streets in the neighborhood, according to a recent petition. 

“San Francisco is failing the Mission District and its less privileged, mainly BIPOC constituents. The City has no consistent plan in place to prevent rampant and brutal sex trafficking infiltrating and degrading the neighborhood,” a petition posted last week by Mission District residents reviewed by Fox News Digital shows. 

The petition is calling on the city to install license plate readers “as soon as possible” between 15th and 25th streets on Shotwell, Capp, Folsom, South Van Ness, Treat and Harrison streets in the Mission District. The petition adds that cameras should be installed in any “surrounding areas where sex trafficking occurs nightly.”

“Our hope is that the license plate readers will send a signal to the criminals engaging in the trafficking of women and girls that they are no longer safe to operate freely in our residential neighborhood. In addition to sex trafficking, the aforementioned locations cover areas of known drug dealing,” the petition concluded. 

The neighborhood is no stranger to prostitution, as it has been a decades-long issue, however, residents last year began sounding off to the media that solicitation was increasing and becoming brazen and “rampant” on city streets. 

The line of johns waiting for prostitutes has also resulted in minor car accidents and hit and runs, according to residents. 

“Everyone has a story of a hit and run,” another resident told the outlet. “Everyone has a story of an altercation.”

The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco on Feb. 20, 2024. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images )

The petition added that the rampant solicitation in the neighborhood puts trafficked women and kids in the crosshairs of “immeasurable harm.’ 

“The overall impact is immeasurable harm for trafficked women and girls and for the Central Mission neighborhood, families and businesses. The city of San Francisco, due to its decades-long neglect of the situation, is responsible,” the blistering petition states. 

Police do monitor areas of the Mission District to help curb the rampant prostitution, but residents said they can’t be there at all hours of the day trying to ward off solicitation. 

“Overall, what we’ve noticed is that as soon as the police are gone, they are back,” one resident told The San Francisco Standard. “They know the drill.”

The San Francisco Police Department told Fox News Digital that officials have arrested “25 individuals in the last 3 months” in the Mission District area, most of whom were males. The police spokesperson added that the department has long been aware of the “decades-long challenges involving sex workers” in the neighborhood, and “will continue to enforce the law.”

“Our officers always ask suspected sex workers if they are being trafficked to see if they need additional services,” the spokesperson said. “We will continue to enforce the law, and work with the community and our city partners to address this issue.”

The San Francisco mayor’s office and Newsom’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the matter.