The Scanner: DAs jump on human trafficking; clothing heists in Berkeley

Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley unveils messaging against human trafficking. Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley unveils messaging against human trafficking. Photo: Kimberly Veklerov, The Chronicle Photo: Kimberly Veklerov, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 27 Caption Close The Scanner: DAs jump on human trafficking; clothing heists in Berkeley 1 / 27 Back to Gallery

For the sixth straight year, Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley rolled out a line of billboards and bus shelter posters to illustrate harms of human trafficking and connect victims to services.

The county’s top prosecutor said the public relations push is effective, especially for young women waiting at bus stops, as it inspires an uptick in calls to the hotline (888-373-7888).

This year’s bright yellow signage includes the quotation, “He made me feel special, then he made me sell my body,” followed by, “He’s not a real boyfriend. This is human trafficking!”

The artwork was done by the district attorney’s office and Clear Channel Outdoor, a mega billboard company providing space for free. The campaign, which will last at least a month, is expected to have more than 5.2 million “impressions” on passersby, said Bruce Qualls, a company vice president.

He valued four weeks of ads at about $133,000.

Domestic trafficking — for sex or labor exploitation — is at an all-time high, O’Malley said. She has made human trafficking prosecutions, and sexual assault and domestic violence, her signature issues.

“The billboards represent a stark reminder that Alameda County, the East Bay, the Bay Area is still a hot spot for human trafficking,” O’Malley said. “It’s not something we’re proud of, but we stand strong and ready to combat those who are trafficking as well as protecting and empowering those who have been trafficked.”

In the past dozen years, O’Malley said, her office has prosecuted more than 650 child sex trafficking suspects, or about one a week, with a conviction rate of 82 percent. Her office has 48 active sex trafficking cases.

On the other side of the bay, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón has sought to build up his own office’s efforts against human trafficking.

But in June, Gascón was unsuccessful when he asked the city Board of Supervisors for $1 million from the near-finalized budget to help his office combat human trafficking.

The number of sex trafficking cases reported last year in San Francisco was up 170 percent from 2017, according to police statistics showing 108 incidents in 2018 compared to 40 the previous year.

Skip out to my Lulu

Group thefts in which people rush into a store, grab costly merchandise and flee are nothing new, and afflict Bay Area businesses from Apple stores to clothing and drugstores.

Two such heists recently hit Berkeley stores on one day when women carrying oversized shopping bags stole thousands of dollars in merchandise from clothing stores. Police believe the crimes were not related.

The first occurred around 4 p.m., Jan. 9, at the Lululemon athletic apparel store in the popular Fourth Street shopping district, police said. Four women, said to be around age 18, entered and filled their large bags with 120 pairs of pricey yoga-style pants, then ran away. Two were wearing light-colored track suits, another a dark hooded sweatshirt.

The total value of the stolen pants was $12,000, making it grand theft. No one has been arrested.

Then about 5:40 p.m. on Telegraph Avenue, police said, two young women swept into Young’s Backpacking and grabbed 89 jackets valued at $5,185.

The 75-year-old owner stood in the doorway, trying to block them from fleeing, police said, but they threw him to the ground and kicked him, leaving him bruised on his arms, knees and face. Because of the physical attack, the crime is considered a robbery. No one has been arrested.

Officer Byron White, Berkeley’s police spokesman, said group thievery tends to happen in waves.

Photo: Helen L. Montoya / Hearst Newspapers 2008 A Lululemon store in Berkeley was hit by a group of thieves who...

Right now, the tide seems to be rising.

Biggest crime news of the past week

•Chesa Boudin, an accomplished San Francisco public defender whose parents were part of the Weather Underground, is running for district attorney.

•A judge in the Ghost Ship criminal case issued a gag order on all parties ahead of the April trial, leading one defense attorney to compare the court order to Nazi Germany.

•The Chronicle obtained 911 calls that show emergency dispatchers were unaware just how dangerously close the deadly Camp Fire was to people’s homes minutes before the flames arrived.

•Thousands of people attended the memorial service of 22-year-old Davis police Officer Natalie Corona, who was gunned down while responding to a traffic collision.

•Adnan Khan became the first person released from a California prison after a new law was passed to resentence people who were convicted of murder but didn’t actually commit the killing.

Rachel Swan, Kimberly Veklerov, Evan Sernoffsky and Michael Cabanatuan are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com, kveklerov@sfchronicle.com, esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com, mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @RachelSwan, @KVeklerov, @EvanSernoffsky, @ctuan