Northwest Dallas business owners want long-term solution to growing prostitution problem
DALLAS - Dozens of Northwest Dallas business owners are fed up with the growing prostitution problem in the area.
Business owners gathered together for a meeting with the Dallas Police Department on Thursday afternoon.
Cameras were not allowed in the meeting at Parker University. A group of about 70 people in the room were fired up, telling Dallas police they want a long-term solution.
Susan McBride says she's concerned about being a crime victim while simply getting her dogs to her veterinarian in the area of Walnut Hill and Northwest Highway.
"Huge problem. Those ladies are not there by themselves. They have pimps parked around here. But I don't want to be the victim of a gunfight," she said.
Veterinarian Dr. Brandie Cox says the problem began to skyrocket after a judge's ruling about a Dallas prostitution ordinance last summer.
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"When she overturned that ordinance, social media got ahold of that information, and it went very viral, for lack of a better way to put it," she said. "It destroyed our community overnight. We literally started having women coming in from other states being trafficked because everyone thought in lay terms it was legal to be a prostitute here in Dallas, Texas, and it is not."
The city adopted a rewritten ordinance in October. A Dallas police major told Cox and other business owners on Thursday that enforcement is underway.
"What we see is 24/7 street prostitution, In other words, it's 8 a.m. to 8 a.m. There's no time when it's worse. There's no time when it's less. It is ongoing all day," Cox said. "These women stand in front of legitimate businesses on private property. They solicit. They block entrances."
The DPD major who met with the group told them overall crime reports in the Northwest Dallas area were down 15%, but business owners said they did not believe it.
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Cox thinks people are so frustrated that they stopped calling police to make reports.
"Chief Garcia developed grids to kind of get an idea or a pulse of what's going on in the city and better attack the crime more efficiently, " Cox said. "If citizens don't call 911, it doesn't let them know where the grids are hot, in other words, where more crime is occuring."
The business owners said until the problem is solved, they want to have another meeting where the media can attend, and they also hope to have city council members in attendance.