Local residents unhappy with prostitution issue
Dozens of northwest Dallas business owners, fed up with the area’s growing prostitution problem, met with Dallas police in hopes of finding some kind of solution.
Dallas – Dozens of business owners in northwest Dallas are fed up with the area’s growing prostitution problem.
Business owners gathered for a meeting with Dallas police Thursday afternoon.
Cameras were not allowed at the meeting at Parker University, and the group of about 70 people in the room were outraged and said they wanted a long-term solution from Dallas police.
Susan McBride said she worries that simply taking her dog to the vet could make her a crime victim in the area of Walnut Hill and Northwest Highway.
“It’s a big problem. Those women are not alone. Pimps are parked around here. But I don’t want to be the victim of a gunfight,” she said.
Veterinarian Dr. Brandi Cox says the problem began to spike after a judge ruled on Dallas’ prostitution ordinance last summer.
“When she overturned that ordinance, social media got hold of it and, for lack of a better word, it became very widespread,” she said. “It devastated our community overnight. Literally, women were coming in from other states to be trafficked because everyone thought it was legal to be a prostitute here in Dallas, Texas. And it’s not.”
The city passed a revised ordinance in October, and a Dallas Police Department major told Cox and other business owners Thursday that enforcement is underway.
“What we’re seeing is 24/7 street prostitution. In other words, 8 a.m. to 8 a.m. It doesn’t get any worse. It doesn’t get any worse. It goes on all day,” Cox said. “These women are standing in front of legitimate establishments on private property, soliciting customers and blocking the entrance.”
The Dallas police chief, who met with the group, said there was a 15 percent overall drop in reported crimes in the northwest Dallas area, but business owners said they didn’t believe that.
Cox believes people have become so frustrated that they have stopped calling police to report the incidents.
“Chief Garcia developed the grid to better understand what’s going on in the city and to police crime more effectively,” Cox said. “Without people calling 911, the grid has no way of knowing where the congestion is — or, in other words, where crime is occurring.”
The managers said they would like to hold another meeting where the media can attend until the issue is resolved, and they also said they would like city council members to attend.
