The Dallas City Council passed a measure on Wednesday to combat the increasing prevalence of prostitution in the city.
A previous local ordinance that allowed officers to cite people for solicitation of sex without having to prove a sex act took place was struck down in court. However, a majority of council members passed an altered version of the measure to help police crackdown on prostitution.
Much of the prostitution-related activity logged by the Dallas Police Department has been occurring in northwestern Dallas, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
“It happens every day, 24 hours a day, and basically, it’s human trafficking, not prostitution. All the women are controlled by pimps, male pimps who watch their every move and take the money when they get through with the job,” William Martin told council members.
“Rewriting the ordinance is a great step forward, and hopefully that’s going to work for us, but it’s not going to solve the human trafficking problem,” Martin added.
Security footage provided to NBC 5 DFW seems to confirm the prevalence of prostitution in northwestern Dallas.
However, Council Member Carolyn King Arnold (District 4) said prostitution activity is also prevalent in southern Dallas, even by transit stations, churches, and schools.
“Whether it’s about pimps, johns, what have you, it’s about street sexting, and we can not have this around our schools,” Arnold said.
Dallas City Attorney Tammy Palomino said she expects the rewritten version of the prostitution ordinance to stand up in court.
“The ordinance is very specific as to the factors they have to prove in order to issue the citation,” Palomino said.
Gary Krupkin, an attorney from Dallas, challenged the City’s previous prostitution ordinance, telling NBC 5 that he will also challenge the new one as he believes both are unconstitutional and violate people’s rights.
Council Member Adam Bazaldua (District 7) was the only member to vote against the rewritten ordinance, claiming that it failed to address the core issue of human trafficking.
“This is a tool that is just providing further probable cause to harass and victimize those who are victims. This is not getting to the root cause,” Bazaldua said. “I strongly encourage DPD to look at what we can do that’s actually going to be a tool to eradicate the issue, not just appease the public that doesn’t like to see what they see.”
According to the City of Dallas crime overview dashboard, there have been 558 prostitution-related offenses logged by DPD so far this year, marking a 130.6% increase over the 242 incidents recorded last year.
DPD has been understaffed for years, maintaining a force of fewer than 3,200 officers. A City analysis recommends a city the size of Dallas needs about 4,000.
