Pomona's Letter-writing Cops

I think that a police officer who cares enough to write a letter to the local paper is a good sign. Officer Rich Martinez, following in the footsteps of Chief Romero, wrote a great letter to the Editor of the Daily Bulletin this past week. But first, here's the original letter from concerned citizen Ralph Colbert (who, by the way, doesn't seem to have a problem with a massage parlor being located directly across the street from an elementary school):

"Focus on real crimes
I read in the Daily Bulletin about the bickering between Pomona's mayor and police chief over crime statistics.

Then I read an article about an all-too familiar shooting that left one dead and one injured, also in Pomona.

Those two articles were followed by another article about the busts at several massage parlors on Garey Avenue.

After digesting this news my first thought was, why are the cops so worried about what happens in the privacy of a massage parlor when people are murdering people at a record-setting pace.

It made me think of the arrest of Sen. Craig inside a bathroom at a major airport by an undercover vice officer, an arrest that stemmed from the senator tapping his foot.

I don't know about you, but I'd prefer all police personnel in airports be on lookout for bombs and terrorists, or at least guarding my luggage until I retrieve it.

I once asked a cop why all the prostitution stings and massage parlor busts instead of setting up surveillance at popular walls of taggers. He responded by telling me that busting street prostitutes and women in massage parlors is much more fun than chasing gangbangers.

Pomona and the nation will never get on track until priorities are realigned.

ROBERT COLBERT
Pomona"

Here's Officer Martinez's Daily Bulletin Letter to the Editor in response:

"Prostitution: It's a crime
Regarding the letter to the editor from the reader concerned about the Pomona Police Department's priorities, "Focus on real crimes," Jan. 15:

Let me say that fighting violent crime, particularly violent crime committed by gangs is our top priority. However, like most departments we have to juggle multiple priorities.

In the eyes of the majority of Pomona's citizens, prostitution is one of their concerns. We try to tackle street prostitution first. This type of prostitution drives away businesses, offends decent families and is associated with drugs, robberies and violent crime.

To be clear, the massage parlors recently dealt with were fronts for prostitution, not legitimate businesses.

Although not as visible as street walkers, indoor prostitutes are connected to other ancillary crime as well. The problem of human trafficking in such illegal operations is an emerging problem in the Los Angeles region.

Most importantly, just because a crime occurs indoors does not mean it's not important. If that were the case, we wouldn't care about domestic violence inside the home or child predators surfing the Internet in the confines of their apartments.

Police departments have the difficult task of meeting citizen expectations, and in Pomona there are still citizens who expect us to fight prostitution, whether it's run by a street pimp or an unscrupulous business owner.

Also, readers should know that in between my regular duties I participate in gang and parole sweeps and other details to fight violence. With our overall staffing in Pomona, we all have multiple duties, but it matters not, because we all care.

OFFICER RICHARD MARTINEZ, Vice Detail, Pomona Police Department"

Kudos to Officer Martinez for caring enough about Pomona to sit down and write a letter in response.

And this one wasn't even on wheels - WITH AN UPDATE

About six months ago, the pictured Accupuncture and Massage studio opened at the corner of Garey and Lincoln. That's where I usually turn into the area to go home, so I couldn't help but notice the errr interesting hours they kept at 1290 N. Garey Blvd. Now I'm not out on the town at night too much because of Mr. Big, but it seemed that every time I do come home late, such as 11 p.m. on Thanksgiving night, that the Accupuncture and Massage studio had an "open" sign on the door and the lights were on inside and on the porch. I had actually started to write this post a couple of weeks ago, but I was worried about possibly badmouthing a new Pomona business. Plus I know too well the wonders of accupuncture, so I really did want to be a believer.

Well a few days ago, I read in the Daily Bulletin that there were arrests for suspected prostitution at a few area massage parlors, including 1290 N. Garey. But as of yesterday, 1290 N. Garey still had the "open" sign on the door and the lights on. Now today when I took todays' photo, the porch light is off and the open sign is down. Although it's worth noting that the friendly, large red bow is still on the door.

I have called the posted number for the massage studio, but just get their answering machine: a young woman of perhaps Thai descent that announces that they charge fifty dollars for accupuncture and "thirty, forty dollars" for massage (just in case you were wondering how much these things go for these days -- althought it sounds like they're somewhat flexible). Update: I've just talked to Dr. Lu at the posted phone number. Dr. Lu told me that he is the owner and accupuncturist at the business. He assures me that there has never been anyone arrested there. He said that he only has two employees, both females. He said that news of the arrests were also in a Chinese daily newspaper, and that he has already gone down to the police station yesterday morning and the police confirmed there was no arrest at his business. He told me that he will be in contact with the DAily Bulletin for them to do a retraction, and is contacting his attorney either way. (Looks like he'll need to get in line behind Mayor Torres at the DB Complaint window tomorrow.)

I've written emails to the neighborhood watch captains and the Chief, and will do one now to Paula Lantz, asking them to get more information about this matter. Any response I get will be the subject of a future post.

THE END