Nancy Estelano has owned San Diego Leather for 19 years, a business which sits at the corner of National City Boulevard and 4th Street.
“Coming to work, I have to pass the girls, they’re in the street soliciting and sometimes we see cars parked right in the street doing their business,” Estelano, CEO of San Diego Leather, said.
That’s not the kind of business she wants to deal with. Last week, a National City police officer stopped by to park something on her property.
“He just said, 'I have a trailer, can I put it in your back parking lot?' Sure, no problem. I had no idea what it was going to look like,” Estelano said.
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Police said they installed “Skywatch,” a surveillance tower to deter crime near Roosevelt Avenue.
“Wow, it’s pretty big,” Estelano said of the surveillance tower. “It’s helping them to somehow record the girls trafficking.”
The sex trafficking industry generates more than $800 million for San Diego’s underground economy, with up to 8,000 victims per year averaging 16-years-old, according to a study conducted by the University of San Diego and Point Loma Nazarene.
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It’s a growing industry in National City.
National City police told NBC 7 the Skywatch system enhances the department’s ability to monitor the area using an advanced camera system.
"I think it's a very welcomed thing," Marisa Ugarte, Executive Director with Bilateral Safety Corridor Coalition, said.
Marisa Ugarte is the executive director of the Bilateral Corridor Coalition, an organization that fights human trafficking. She supports the new technology, but said it’s not just about combatting prostitution.
“There have been shootings there between gang members and traffickers fighting traffickers, there’s a school right next door to it. This is a good way to let buyers know that their license plates are going to be seen and that their license plates are going to be on record,” Ugarte said.
Police also put these “no parking” signs along 4th street.
Estelano said she is grateful police are cracking down on crime in the area, but she worries the signs could keep customers away.
“It’s beginning to hurt our business because our employees have to park, and they don’t want to park out here where batteries are being stolen from cars, and our customers can’t park. So, we ask our employees to park 10 blocks away. It’s just not right,” Estelano said.
In California, solicitation of prostitution is a misdemeanor that could result in up to six months in jail and or a maximum fine of $1,000.
