Pathosphoto » photography by Conner Jay

On a cold December night, they hit the street. Walking the cement line with long naked legs, they break through the brisk, dark night. They smile and whisper to passing cars, “What would you like?”

A reporter and I were recently invited to a prostitution sting operation by the Salinas Police Department involving an undercover officer looking to pick up woman soliciting sex. While it is fairly common knowledge that prostitution occurs in the city of Salinas, I had no idea of what it was like on the streets.

We start the night early, as soon as the darkness settles. We ride back and forth between the streets along East Alisal and the ironically named John Street, as several cop cars and unmarked vehicles search.

“How do you know if they are a prostitute,” I ask.

“Well, you look for people looking back at you… It will be pretty obvious.”

We all stare through the tinted windows looking for someone staring back. Soon enough we see them. There are actually a startling number of woman walking along the seedy back streets, leaning towards slow moving drivers. We hear that some women are brought from as far as Fresno to work Salinas.

This may be because there seems to be no lack of Johns patrolling. There are so many cars driving along these alleys, the traffic begins to clog. Besides a few a automotive shops that are closed for the night, I can’t imagine why there would be any traffic here at all.

Soon enough the undercover is picking up girls for the arrests. We listen to their exchanges over the radio.

“Yeah a blowjob would be nice — $20?”

As the officers make arrests, we zoom by for brief snaps and glimpses through the camera. The women look defiant and disappointed.

The police make small jokes over the radio, often guessing the gender of a prostitute (they arrested the same number of transsexual prostitutes as they did women that night), but the sarcasm seems to mask a sadness. Kind of like a joke that’s made when there is nothing left you can do. The officers worked incredibly hard to make their arrests, many already coming from an eight hour day. Despite some obvious shortcomings with their equipment, they made it work.

“We try to divert it, or slow it down,” an officer says. “But we’re not stopping this.”

This life stuck to the underbelly of society seems wide open for business. The girls still hit the street each night as the darkness settles.