we ve had a male officer just recently shot at by a female prostitute. so you name it, it s happened. it s just after 5:00 p.m. when the task force hits the streets. run up and down a few blocks and see what s out there. it doesn t take long for saleda to spot the night s first mark. there s one. she s a regular. a female, white. she s sitting at the bus stop. i watched her get out of a car. she was standing on the corner. saleda pulls into position to watch the undercover officer make his approach. okay. pulling up. after a brief exchange, the subject takes the bait. she s getting in. mark, going to go eastbound. inside the car a deal is struck and the undercover taps his brake lights. looks like he already gave the swoop signal. signaling the arrest team to swoop down and make the bust.
then the unexpected. [ gunshots ] an unknown shooter, perhaps a rival pimp, flees down a side street. he s west on marin, turning southbound towards east 14th. on foot? no one is injured, but the opd loses the suspect. we lost him. fearing for the safety of the undercover cops on the street the police call off the operation for the night. the task force wants the men who buy and sell underage girls to know that they are watching and waiting to make a bust. no demand, no product. hammer these guys. and we do. we re actually putting these guys away for a long period of time. it may help but it s main stream.
that s it right there. as the police close in the subject makes a half hearted attempt to flee. she s getting out of the car. she s getting out of the car walking southbound. that s her. the woman is easily arrested and she s done for the night. but the task force is just getting started. she s running up to meet him in the alley. moments later, just a few blocks away, they nab another one. it s business as usual on the streets of oakland. female black, looks like pink shirt, white shorts. we got her last time. then the officers find something that really captured their attention. hey, those girls are really young. three girls who appear to be juveniles out on a stroll. all right. pulling up alongside of them. still rolling. the undercover officer attempts to solicit the girls but they don t respond. they re walking away. they re scared right now.
pose as prostitutes. they also go online and call girls whose pimps place ads on internet websites. is jasmine there? and veterans are constantly training rookies in undercover tactics. we just put on an undercover school. what we ll do is take these guys out and get their feet wet. let them try and pick up some girls and see what it s like to follow a car and that kind of thing. detective jim saleda is an eight-year veteran of the task force. tonight he ll be working closed cover keeping a protective eye on the undercover cops posing as johns. again, if shots are fired be mindful you always want cover. tonight s sting requires two dozen officers and nine cars. and if there is an officer down we ll react to the threat as we just talked about. we actually have one of our close cover officers, plain clothes officers, who was watching the incident, be approached by two guys and he tried to rob them at gun point. a gun fight ensued.
day saying, if you don t get on the track i m going to kill you. i m going to stab you. i have my boys watching you. you can t do anything. you re scared. the odds of pulling a girl off the street are small but hoffman and the men of the oakland task force are undaunted. saleda says it s a race against the clock. the earlier they can pull a girl off the street the more likely it is that she won t fall prey again to the anxious men who only see children in terms of dollars and cents. they re total property. it s truly modern day slavery. with thousands of dollars at stake, pimps keep a watchful eye over the girls they traffic. the pimp does not come up for her rescue. he just wants to make sure he knows how much money she s making. girls who are caught in sting operations often feel they are unfairly targeted. they do. okay.