A look at metro-based juvenile homelessness, sexual exploitation
“Kids need a safe place to be and someone who cares about them. Now why should that be so hard?”
Thus queries a seasoned Los Angeles Police Department veteran, an officer who heads the LAPD unit that focuses upon identification and eradication of child sexual exploitation.
Lt. Andre Dawson’s posed question is eminently straightforward and unequivocal, but it is easier asked than answered.
In fact, it points to a huge and — some might say — seemingly intractable problem that empirical evidence suggests might be larger in Los Angeles than anywhere else in the United States.
One recent media expose on child sexual abuse/exploitation in LA states that “up to one in eight of the homeless [across the metro] are unaccompanied minors.”
Although that is instantly alarming, it is rendered further harrowing by an additional related point, namely, that about 82,000 people are homeless in Los Angeles on an “average” night.
What that means is this: The streets of Los Angeles — especially in select and geographically confined environs — typically team with many thousands of juveniles who are alone and fending for themselves.
That is instantly sad and ominous, given that, as noted in the above-cited article, that population of minors is exceedingly vulnerable to sexual exploitation and third-party coercion to engage in commercialized sex work.
Which leads back to that initial query posed in this blog’s opening paragraph. Commentators on child sexual exploitation note that police department involvement, while being of obvious importance in combating that heinous wrong, has limited utility.
By all indications, Dawson’s team is fighting a valiant — though notably challenging — battle against that evil. The safe harbor and loving care that he talks about, though, is the key ingredient for making real inroads against child sex abuse that plays out on urban streets. And those necessary components can only emerge with a more encompassing and deep-pocketed response from society in general.
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