Chief of Police: STHS student has made a valuable contribution

South Lake Tahoe Police Chief Brian Uhler has written the following in response to an opinion piece written by South Tahoe High junior Noah Jackson that was posted on South Tahoe Now June 9 concerning massage parlors.

This opinion piece, authored by one of our local STHS students, Noah Jackson, was submitted to SouthTahoeNow.com. After reading this, I would like to commend Noah Jackson for his wisdom and insight into this matter of local concern. It is admirable that a local high school student recognizes and addresses public concerns in such a responsible manner. Young Mr. Jackson has made a valuable contribution here to an existing public discourse about our local massage businesses. I believe some of the concerns he raises in this opinion piece merit a response from local government in general, and law enforcement specifically, as to what we are doing in response to this issue.

The SLTPD and the City Council of South Lake Tahoe share the concerns expressed here by Mr. Jackson. The City and the police department are already invested in ensuring lawful compliance among our message businesses in South Lake Tahoe. As a demonstration of this, at the South Lake Tahoe City Council meeting of April 5th, 2016 the Council requested a briefing from the police department regarding the protocols for permitting, the operations of, and the potential for criminal activity posed by, our local massage businesses. Detective Jeff Roberson covered this span of information for our City Council during a special presentation to them. Our City Council wants to ensure compliance with the law by all massage businesses and individual practitioners while protecting the good reputation of our City, and that of our legitimate massage service providers.

In response to suspicions expressed to the police department from various sources, we have conducted a number of covert investigative operations at several of our locally licensed massage businesses over the past 2 years. During these operations, we have discovered no prostitution services offered by any locally permitted massage business in South Lake Tahoe. This is not to say that it never happens; such a belief would be naive. Although we have several legitimate massage practitioners in our City, the potential for prostitution and a host of other criminal issues, such as human trafficking, exist in this industry. Because of this, police investigations into the compliance of these businesses will continue on an unannounced basis in the future.

The public should also be aware that, as of 2009 our police department ceased regulating our local massage businesses and operators. At that time the task was relegated by state law to fall under the jurisdiction of the California Massage Therapy Council. This entity may issue a license for a two year span of time to every massage practitioner only after their successful completion of 500 hours of certified training. The City of South Lake Tahoe will not issue a business license to any massage practitioner or business unless they first show proof that each person in their employment has been certified through the California Massage Therapy Council.

The South Lake Tahoe City Council and police department is responding to this concern over our local massage establishments. We take note of this opinion piece authored by Noah Jackson, and respect his initiative in doing so. We have, and will continue, to investigate these institutions to protect our public, our legitimate massage businesses and those who may be forced into performing illicit activity in illegitimate establishments.