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THE HANDSOME UNRVER P S. IS HE ENTRAPPG GAY MEN OR CLEANG UP A PARK?
But the unrver operatn, which was sharply cricized recently by a judge, also exemplifi a ntroversial, age-old police tactic that many of California’s largt law enforcement agenci have quietly abandoned recent years amid mountg cricism and changg sexual the most-read stori this hour >>In Los Angel, Long Beach and other areas where unrver lewd nduct stgs endure, police fend them as an important tool for tchg people who are vlatg the law and for terrg others om tryg to have sex parks and other public areas ed by fai and activists do not ndone public sex but have long nmned the bts as a form of entrapment, sayg they unfairly sgle out gay men, wh sometim vastatg nsequenc. But recent years, crics of the stgs have gaed tractn as public attus about homosexualy and gay rights have shifted.
“Nobody is gog to fend lewd nduct, but there is a qualative difference between sexual predators and people who engage boorish behavr, ” said Los Angel County Asssor Jefey Prang, who is gay and a former special assistant the Sheriff’s Department who worked wh s LGBT advisory uncil. Last month, a Los Angel County judge threw out the charg one se stemmg om Long Beach’s 2014 operatn, sayg police were discrimatg agast gay law enforcement agenci have stopped rponse to lawsus or after polil backlash. While lewd nduct plats have dropped dramatilly recent years, Neiman said stgs have been ed to shut down persistent hotspots for gay cisg and lewd acts 11 tim sce 2014.
“You still have to enforce the law when you get plats, ” he e of unrver ps to target gay men Southern California stretch back to the early 20th century, when gay sex was illegal, said Lillian Farman, a historian and thor of “Gay L. Brown, “vice specialists” who loered public rtrooms and other areas while rryg out so-lled “pury mpaigns” aimed at gay men Long Beach and Los Angel, Farman wrote, addg that their methods served as a mol for stgs throughout Southern pair had no prr police trag but were given police badg both ci. They were paid for each arrt and offered their servic to other major ci, she 1914, The Tim reported on an operatn which the two helped arrt 31 men acced of engagg gay sex at private clubs Long Beach.