FAQ

We have no cameras on Aurora. All of our cameras are in residential neighborhoods.

We appreciate your interest in making a difference! First, support efforts to implement a revised loitering law in Seattle. This will help improve the safety of our neighbors, sex trafficking victims and others in the community.

Please email your city council member, county council member, the mayor and your state legislators asking them to support Councilwoman Cathy Moore’s efforts to implement a new law. Then sign the petition, educate your friends, and donate to organizations on this site that work toward keeping girls and young women safe from sex trafficking.

Sex work along Aurora Avenue isn’t new, but the situation has deteriorated in the last few years. Opinions differ, but many residents say that in years past, most of the sex workers were independent – as in, the women were local and didn’t work with pimps. Now, more girls and young women are being trafficked by pimps to Aurora from all over the West Coast. State statistics indicate that nearly half of sex workers are underage.

Like several other U.S. cities, Seattle’s loitering law was repealed in 2020 over legitimate concerns that it was being used to target our unhoused neighbors. But in Seattle, the repeal had unintended ramifications: It left law enforcement without a way to approach sex workers or pimps, which emboldened the pimps. Pimps are violent and often armed, and they’ve become territorial in our neighborhoods. They routinely drive around our neighborhood and hide in alleys, using high-powered guns to shoot at each other – with zero concern about spraying bullets into our homes and local businesses.

The pimps are the problem, and we in no way want to further victimize the sex workers. The pimps perpetuate the violence that affects sex workers and local residents. Pimps force girls, teens and young women into demeaning sex work, nonstop all night, to earn money. As a result, customers leave used condoms – biohazardous waste – in our streets, driveways, walking paths, front yards and parks. We’ve also found used tampons and sanitary wipes, and even feces and soiled undergarments in our front yards and private parking areas. All of that goes away, we hope, if the customers stay away.

We understand that these are all symptoms of a larger problem – but we draw the line at gun violence, when bullets blast through the windows and walls of our homes. The violence has also affected local businesses, forcing some to close. Some residents are selling their homes at significant financial loss.

We are unwilling to wait for the city to take action. We fear that one of our neighbors, friends or children will get hit by gunfire. We want our community back.

Unfortunately, the pimps are increasingly difficult to apprehend: Police are understaffed and usually not present at the time of a shooting, so perpetrators can flee before police arrive. Local jails are not willing to book violent perpetrators.

Police cannot interact with sex workers to gain useful information about their traffickers due to the removal of the loitering law (and neighbors cannot safely interact with sex workers to form meaningful, trusting connections due to bullets flying regularly when pimps’ business is threatened).

This is why some of our shorter term solutions – the prostitution loitering law and isjonajohn.com – do not directly focus on pimps, though that is the long term goal.

Our neighborhood (and city) contains great diversity of opinion on the issue. Some of us believe sex work is work and people should be free to make their own choices. Some of us want to legalize prostitution, while others oppose that approach. But we all agree that everyone should be able to live – and work -- in a safe environment. That isn’t happening.

A sex worker was shot during a shootout in July.

We need solutions that allow the resources that exist, however imperfect, to target the sources of violence. We also want to ensure safety for those most at risk. Sex workers are part of our community and deserve a safe workplace. They should not be subjected to the myriad human rights violations occurring both here in Seattle and all over the world. If nothing else, we hope our efforts call attention to the problem and spur positive change that brings all stakeholders to the table.

This website does not outright accuse anyone of any crime or poor conduct. If you didn’t do anything wrong, this website was not made for you. If you drove through our neighborhood late at night, you don't live here, and can show proof of why you were here (like you made a delivery), just send it to us via the form on your plate result page. Otherwise, we hope you understand that we are attempting to protect our families from further violence and are running out of options.

No one is being extorted. The site doesn’t accuse anyone of a crime, and we make no money off of donations. We are not affiliated with any of the suggested organizations, and are simply protecting our families from rapidly escalating violence.

Thank you for being here and engaging with us. We genuinely want to connect with you to hear how we can keep you and our local community safe. Let us know where we can start.

We don’t KNOW anything, and never claim this or accuse anyone on this site. Plates that appear here have been filtered through a process to eliminate local residents and patrons of local businesses (other than sex work). But since you asked, we do have copious footage (not hosted on this site, obviously) that captures vehicles soliciting sex workers. If you feel your plate is on our website in error, we hope you understand that we are trying to protect our neighborhood before someone is killed by one of the bullets flying through our homes and vehicles.