The other set of issues relevant to the public interest here are the justifications used in law enforcement to institute what clearly seems to be a cover up in this situation.

If Vasquez were convicted of this offense, he would lose his job. Other law enforcement officers who even get a restraining order against them must surrender their firearms under California law, and effectively end their jobs also.

So, the justification is: a citizen who is not a law enforcement officer does not lose his or her job over something like this. Therefore, it's too harsh a punishment for Vasquez.

What do people think about this? I see just a few solutions:

1. Change the law so that cops don't lose jobs over certain criminal convictions. Of course, this makes it really hard for them to be testifying against someone they arrested for the same conviction.

2. The law is the law, they chose law enforcement, and if they mess up, they pay the price (even with their job).

3. The current system of it's not fair they lose their job, we can't change the law because of the effect that would have on their testimony (see #1), so we just work the system from the back rooms like what apparently was done here.

As much as I am against what I think is a cover up that took place here, the notion of someone losing his or her job over this is a valid point. What do people think?

I agree that the story is the coverup. Look at ALL the players here.

By the way, the SF Weekly picked up this story, but alas did not credit the Almanac. Hope that is corrected:
Web Link

What you're saying is the cop still should have been prosecuted for the same misdemeanor that the prostitute was not prosecuted for... just because he's a cop. Discriminated against as a defendant because of his job, a job which does not place him in a special category as a perpetrator. Really? The guy wasn't out murdering children.

No, my opinion is that the prostitute should have been prosecuted also, and it's unfortunate that the Sunnyvale officer decided to "no show", and the prosecutor went along with it, in order to save the Menlo Park cop from a prosecution. In any event, even if you believe there was no set up, the lack of prosecution of the prostitute wasn't based on her innocence, but rather logistics, and shouldn't preclude the prosecution of the Menlo Park officer, Vasquez.

@logic - Yes, cops, of all people, should be held to the highest standard.

Why wouldn't you (and they) expect, and demand, that standard?

Or we can go out with your standards: "The guy wasn't out murdering children."

Tough call. Not.

That said: legalize sex workers, and drugs. Until then, anyone we give a gun to? Highest standards.

Take a look at this story about My Redbook at the Orange County Register: Web Link

Ok, the SF Weekly site inserted a credit to the Almanac, but they gave a credit to the Mercury News before they give it to the Almanac:


"According to The Almanac, Menlo Park had to reinstate the officer after he challenged the city's undisclosed disciplinary action against him."

Web Link

Story is up on Huffington Post now: Web Link

To those less informed, a good percentage of prostitutes are kept in the trade against their will by pimps. Some are victims of child or international human traffic rings. Police must be in the business of stopping prostitution, not feeding the demand!

This crime and coverup doesn't surprise me, but if there is no change in the way transgressors and court cases are handled, then shame on the system. One of too many problems in our society to address.

This individual should have the decency to resign. I don't want him 'protecting' me or my family and friends. If he must stay, put him on a trafficing task force with obligations to end prostitution (with lots of supervision!)

From the Huffington Post story, Santa Clara D.A. Rob Baker has now changed his story about not prosecuting Vasquez.

Originally he said he could not secure a conviction without the prostitute herself being convicted, and the defense attorney knew this (Almanac article).

After I pointed out here how outlandish that statement is given Vasquez's confession, he now reasons:

Baker said he wanted to prosecute both cases, but when Ramirez "got the benefit" of having her case dismissed, it "didn't sit well" with him to continue to go after Vasquez.

One thing I do believe: if Baker gets caught doing something by Menlo Park P.D. (or any Bay Area cop), he'll get a pass on it too.

To Please Resign:

You are indeed correct that a good percentage of prostitutes are "victims of child or international human traffic rings."

The Lost Innocence Project at the FBI cites My Redbook, the site that Vasquez frequented, as one of the worst offenders for child trafficking. Not saying that Vasequez used an underage prostitute, but there certainly have been dozens and dozens of stings over at My Redbook, where they have found underaged prostitutes.

From NBC Los Angeles: Web Link

Anaheim police uncovered a child sex trafficking operation in Orange County, and think there may be more victims.

A federal grand jury has indicted a couple on charges of selling the sexual services of two girls, ages 14 and 17.

Detectives say they stayed in motels, paid for their rooms in cash and hired out the two teenagers as prostitutes.

According to a federal complaint, the suspects advertised the girls on websites like myredbook.com, claiming they were 19 years old. They were actually 14 and 17.

Lurker, you are obsessed with trying to link incidents of child prostitution on Redbook to this situation. This situation is bad enough. It didn't involve child prostitution. The fact the web site has those allegations associated with it doesn't mean Vasquez had anything to do with child prostitution when he saw this prostitute. He saw an adult prostitute. The controversy here is should he keep is job as a result of that, and did law enforcement engage in a cover up over that. When you introduce these allegations, as you have repeatedly done, all you achieve is the Almanac locking the threads, which I think Mr. Vasquez would thank you for. Please stop.

I don't want Vasquez, Brackett or any of these jokers showing up at my house when there is a problem. Although the POA will fight it, the citizens of Menlo Park deserve to know when the internal affairs division has scanned every officers phone records for calls to Redbook while on duty, and fired these individuals without pay or pension.

One of the issues was that Vasquez was doing this on city time.

What this officer did was far less egregious than what Al Gore did in a Portland Oregon Massage parlor. At least the officer's behavior was consensual. This double standard of going after people not in positions of power and giving powerful people a pass shows the true hypocrisy of our legal system.

The police officer should keep his job but not be allowed to work Vice cases.

@Hypocrisy --

He should not be able to keep his job. He was doing something illegal on city time. He is an officer of the law plus this wasn't his first time. End of story.

City Manager and the Mayor should take care of this.

Hypocrisy: NO law enforcement officer should be enlisting the services of anyone who "works" for Redbook.

Every law enforcement agency in this country knows what a good portion of their business is - child trafficking - and that Redbook has been in the crosshairs of the FBI for some time.

Please read up on this place AND the people who run Redbook, ( some have felony records, and it's not just for being pimps). Check out www.sfredbook. com and take a look at their forums - like the "Underground " Message forum and see what its "members" are saying. It's not just a discussion about prostitutes, believe me.

While we know that Vasquez hired a prostitute who was 32, given the hundreds of articles that have written about My Redbook and its association with child trafficking over the years, Officer Vasquez was acting in a reckless and self-destructive manner by hiring the services of this "organization" that employs underaged girls.

I have said before, Vasquez should be working to take down a place like Redbook.

Too many of the prostitutes who work for Redbook are young teens.

I would strongly suggest you hightail it over to www.sfredbook.com and look at their forums.

Michael Stogner - you mean the City Manager who blabbed about it in public, in the presence of a reporter, thus also breaking rules?

Lurker, IIRC, people don't work for Myredbook; they place ads there for their services, from FBSM to full service. This means there are a melange of providers, incl the trafficked, the pimped & the solo sex worker. It's gotten to be even more popular since Craigslist shut down their section for sex workers. I'm not saying that they're nice people, but the ones who advertise don't have to be affiliated w/those who run it.

Michael Stogner: No. Given the subject matter, the City Manager would have a conflict of interest.

Remember, we only know about this story because of the intrepid Almanac reporter who overheard a conversation.

Is Vasquez the only law enforcement who has enlisted the services of My Redbook or are their others? What other incidents involving police officers don't we know about?

I hope the FBI is looking into this matter as well.

Would you stop repeating the info about redbook ad nauseam? You post over and over and over. We get it. Let the conversation go back toto the actual topic. Start a thread about redbook if you can't stop yourself from interjecting it into every thread and then the people who WANT to talk about redbook can do so over there. TIA.

Post removed. This is getting way off topic. The original story was NOT about Redbook, although we have had plenty of data on the site.

Lurker if anyone was interested they already have your many many posts of the same info to look at. Repeating yourself over and over does not help your credibility. You posted. We can see the info and follow up if we want to. Let it go. Some of us want to talk about THIS case. And I don't mean where he found a hooker.

Lurker, you've made your point. It's a valid one. Please stop posting the same stuff about Redbook. It's just going to get this thread locked or deleted (whether you think that's the correct response or not). We all understand the issue: Vasquez obtained the prostitute while he was on working hours, from the Redbook site, which has had lots of law enforcement controversy surrounding it. It's understood.