The Dallas Police Department and City Council want to regulate opening hours for strip clubs and other sexually oriented businesses.
According to The Dallas Morning News, Dallas PD said most violent crimes reported near sexually oriented businesses in the city have happened after 2 a.m. The department now says that is reason enough to close the businesses by 2 a.m.
FOX 4 News reported that the recommendation would require those businesses to be closed between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m., a move Dallas police said would cut down on early morning crimes in the city.
According to FOX 4 News, the City Council’s Quality of Life Committee voted to create a task force to study the proposal for six months and submit a report back to the committee in May. After Dallas police showed a possible connection between those businesses and criminal activity, City Council decided.
Adam Bazaldua, chair of the Quality of Life committee, told FOX 4 News in an interview that several homicides had occurred at a sexually oriented business in his district.
“Sure enough there is a strong correlation between hours and when these violent crimes occur at these sexually oriented businesses,” Bazaldua said.
Dallas Police data showed violent crimes increased eighty percent in 2021 from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. compared to 2019. The data also showed that about seventy-six percent of violent crimes in the city occurred in that time frame.
However, attorney and former council member Philip Kingston argued before the committee that there is not necessarily a link between sexually oriented businesses and criminal activities.
“There is prostitution alleged to be associated with these clubs,” Kingston said before the committee. “You all know and I know if you have an SOB (sexually oriented businesses) license and prostitution associated, you all would have already revoked its license and that has not occurred.”
Should the City Council move forward with the proposal, Dallas will join San Antonio and Plano as one of the cities requiring these businesses to close by 2 a.m.