San Jose: Police, city toughen up on massage parlors - San Jose Mercury News

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SAN JOSE -- City and police officials have toughened up on what they say was an unchecked proliferation of illegal massage parlors, enforcing new regulations aimed at purging shops with ties to human trafficking and prostitution.

The City Council passed an ordinance in December reviving requirements that parlors and massage therapists have state licensing and provide proof to the San Jose Police Department, as well as obtain a permit from the city. Permitting began in late March and will continue through most of May.

Moreover, the council tasked police, specifically the vice unit, with getting the scope of massage parlors' presence in the city. On Tuesday, Lt. Mike Sullivan presented a report that culled site visits, online searches and resident complaints and found 295 massage businesses; police are not sure how many of those are operating illegally. Vice detectives also identified at least five "corridors" of parlors, where anywhere from five to 15 locations were clustered in areas scattered across the city.

Those clusters were a particular concern for the council, which asked officials to evaluate points of "overconcentration" they feared would taint the reputations of certain parts of the city and lead to "an increase in demand" for businesses that mask illicit acts. Currently in San Jose, massage parlors cannot be within 500 feet of a school, college or university or within 200 feet of a residential area.


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Sullivan said trial inspections based on complaints found two parlors in the downtown area did not meet the licensing requirements. In the past year and a half, he said detectives have presented 21 prostitution cases related to parlors.

Sullivan added that complaints made near schools are generally prioritized and said the city has been fortunate that, to date, they've been able to chalk it up as a quality-of-life crime.

With scores of businesses in a city of 1 million, Sullivan asked for the public's patience as police methodically work through the issue.

"This is a large undertaking," he said. "We're taking complaints one at a time. We'll triage them as they come in."

Anyone with information about potential illicit activity associated with a massage parlor in San Jose can contact the SJPD vice unit at 408-277-4322.

Contact Robert Salonga at 408-920-5002. Follow him at Twitter.com/robertsalonga.

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