HEATwatch (Human Exploitation and Trafficking) a new program from Alameda County District Attorney's office, aims to keep youth prostitution off the streets of Oakland and crack down hard on human traffickers.

On any given night in Alameda County, about 100 youth troll the streets in a vast illicit commercial sexual exploitation trade that has become big business for the pimps who control it, Alameda County officials say, and life threatening for the children involved.But on Monday, Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley unveiled an aggressive plan to fight the trafficking and sale of youth for sex. The plan, which she called “HEAT Watch,” involves both stepping up law enforcement and sentencing for traffickers as well as engaging community members and local businesses to watch for incidents of trafficking in their neighborhoods and report them.

To this end, her office set up an anonymous tip line: 510-208-4959

“Sadly, many victims of human trafficking are children. It’s important to recognize that these children are all of our children, and they can be rescued when someone opens their eyes, pays attention and takes action,” O’Malley said at a press conference at the Alameda County Courthouse in downtown Oakland. O’Malley described the situation as “an epidemic,” in the Bay Area as well as nationally and “modern day slavery.”  She said one of her deputy attorneys found children from Oakland being sold for prostitution on the streets of Hawaii.

The tip line already proved to work for helping one Alameda County girl. Joanne, the mother of the teenage girl, called the tip line last week immediately after hearing that it had been set up. Her daughter had been missing and involved in prostitution for most of a year.

“I called it the first day. My daughter was gone and now she’s coming back to me,” said the middle-aged mother whose last name was not revealed to protect her daughter. The mother and then the daughter were both able to talk to deputy District Attorney Sharmin Eshraghi Bock, the mother said, who counseled them over the phone.

“She was really tired of the streets,” Bock said, but the girl “is at a crossroads” and will need ongoing counseling and services. Joanne added, “They need to know they don’t need to sell their bodies to be someone.”

HEAT Watch will involve five efforts by the DA’s office. Along with the tip line and engaging the community, another is coordinating operations among law enforcement officers from various jurisdictions. “Trafficking knows no borders,” O’Malley said. Stepped-up training and intelligence sharing of law enforcement at various levels will also be part of this coordinated effort.

A third is pursuing more vigorous prosecution of traffickers. The DA’s HEAT unit, which is led by deputy DA Bock, has been pursuing kidnapping and sexual assault charges against perpetrators and winning long sentences in the court room. Convictions on pimping in California carry misdemeanor sentences although sentences are tougher when minors are involved. Then a felony can be charged.

California Assemblyman Sandre Swanson, (D-Oakland), and O’Malley have been lobbying Sacramento to pass legislation to codify tough sentencing for convicted traffickers who pimp minors. Swanson introduced legislation that passed in October that would forfeit assets of individuals convicted of pimping or trafficking and increase those fines to $20,000 from $5,000. Half of those assets would be donated to social service organizations helping victims. However, a conviction has to be won first.  Swanson also authored legislation signed into law a year ago that would categorize youth engaged in prostitution as victims, rather than criminals, and deserving of social services. But the resulting program to provide those social services is only a pilot program and limited to Alameda County.