National City prostitution surveillance tower is broken, no fix in sight

When a hit and run driver hit the National City Police Department’s mobile SkyWatch tower in mid-October, it did more than take the two-story tower out of service. 

It created an opening for pimps and prostitutes to retake the streets over which the tower once stood. 

During one afternoon earlier this week, multiple women in revealing, skimpy outfits and high heels moved around the area in a stretch so notorious for its history as a go-to place to buy sex on the street that city officials installed a mobile police surveillance tower in 2021, which they purchased for $220,000 through a FEMA grant. 

The women paced up and down Roosevelt between 4th and 5th Streets, a stretch scattered with motels. One set up camp in the middle of 5th Street.  Others waved and smiled at passing motorists. Yet another woman stood next to a car, leaning through the window talking to a male driver. 

It was a clear scene of an open sex trade at 3:45 in the afternoon. 

The SkyWatch tower, which Mayor Ron Morrison earlier that day credited for combatting the problem and turning a high-profile trafficking arrest into an exception rather than the rule, was nowhere in sight.

But it has been out of commission since mid-October due to the hit-and-run accident.

The city tried repairing it, but has been unable to because it is a “unique piece of equipment,” said National City Police Department Sergeant Paul Hernandez. He said they’re currently looking for a solution to put the tower back in service.

When in action, it “is a rugged, highly reinforced mobile surveillance platform,” according to the manufacturer’s website. It says the tower is” rapidly deployable” and “provides a strategic perspective and deterrent.” 

“The damage was noticed on 10-13-25. It was taken out of service shortly after. Unfortunately, I do not have the exact date it was removed from the area,” Hernandez said.

Morrison said prostitution fell “like a rock off a cliff”after the city installed the tower.

He has not responded to follow up questions on how the city is combatting the problem now that the tower is out of commission.  

National City Police Chief Alejandro Hernandez also did not respond to questions on whether the department has implemented any other actions in the Roosevelt area to deter prostitution in the weeks since the tower was removed.

Source – Indonesia News