Sex work and the city: How the policing of prostitution in San Francisco has evolved

AS THE SUN sets over Capp Street in San Francisco’s Mission District each evening, the red lights turn on, and the neighborhood becomes the center for sex work in the city. Cars pass slowly up and down the street, their occupants looking to solicit sex workers. At times, police intervene, brandishing bright flashlights and handing out citations and arrests.

Just last year, the San Francisco Police Department announced it was cracking down on prostitution, as it installed barricades on five blocks of Capp Street in hopes of curbing solicitors — or “johns” — that perused the streets.