Prostitution offenses may be down across Dallas, but the illicit sex trade is continuing to drive crime in the northwestern part of the city.
According to data from the City’s crime analytics dashboard, there have been 243 prostitution-related arrests in Dallas this year as of July 29. However, a whopping 188 have been logged in District 6, which is represented by Council Member Omar Narvaez.
DX has been putting a spotlight on the illicit sex trade that continues to thrive in Narvaez’s district. Pimps and organized crime rings seem to run the show, and violence and abuse are purportedly the norm, as various interviewees have explained to the news outlet.
District 6 leads all other council districts in human trafficking reports — 35 being logged there so far this year — as well as robberies (160), drug violations (1,013), and stolen vehicles (1,017). It is also second when it comes to aggravated assaults, behind only Council Member Adam Bazaldua’s District 7, and burglaries, behind Council Member Jesse Moreno’s District 2.
DX has been shining a light on the buyers of commercial sex acts in its Dirty Johns DFW series. Recently, the series named a dozen men accused of purchasing sexual services from an undercover police officer with the Dallas Police Department on May 1.
The sellers of illicit sexual services are also being targeted by DPD operations in the northwest. After the May 1 bust, an undercover officer presented himself as a sex buyer and made a dozen arrests of suspected prostitutes on May 21 and May 27.
Documents obtained by DX through an information request detailed some fairly outrageous scenes playing out in northwest Dallas. The arrested women were described as wearing bathing suits, fishnet outfits, and other revealing clothing aimed at exposing their breasts and more. Interestingly, not one of the individuals arrested had any priors.
While most of the suspects were arrested without incident, there were a few dramatic encounters.
An undercover officer approached a woman named Alexis Magda on Walnut Hill Road on May 21. She was apparently drinking from an air freshener bottle.
“I’m just trying to make do, I can’t be drunk out here,” she told the officer when he asked her about it.
After allegedly arranging with the officer to perform oral sex on him for $60, she was taken into custody. However, she did not come quietly, according to the incident report obtained by DX.
“[She] began kicking at the car window and threatening to spit on transporting officers,” the report reads. Magda was eventually placed in a restraint chair at Lew Sterrett jail but allegedly managed to bite an officer’s pinky finger, resulting in her facing an additional charge of assaulting a public servant.
Curbing the criminal activity occurring in District 6 and across Dallas has been difficult, given DPD’s significant staffing shortage. Around 3,000 officers are currently being fielded, whereas a prior City analysis recommended a force of roughly 4,000 to ensure prompt police response times.
Maintaining adequate staffing levels can be challenging considering City leaders approved a budget of only $654 million for DPD this fiscal year, which is much smaller than that of law enforcement agencies in other high-crime cities, such as Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City.
The Dallas Express, The People’s Paper, believes that important information about the city, such as crime rates and trends, should be easily accessible to you. Dallas has more crime per capita than hotspots like Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and New York, according to data from the FBI’s UCR database.
How did your area stack up on crime? Check out our interactive Crime Map to compare all Dallas City Council Districts. Curious how we got our numbers? Check out our methodology page here.
