The idea that a sports event draws 50,000 to 100,000 escorts to the host city is absurd. It’s just the type of info that ‘nonprofit groups’ like to peddle. While big events mean more people, which means more money, and pro escorts will follow, those numbers are just fantasy. Read more at NBCDFW.com…
Prostitutes Look to Score at All-Star Game: Cops Dallas police say areas hosting big sports events see influx of prostitutes By ELLEN GOLDBERG
North Texas is expecting thousands of visitors for the NBA All-Star Weekend, but Dallas police are also making plans to deal with some unwelcome visitors — prostitutes.
“We have been told from other cities that there is going to be an increase in prostitutes,” Lt. Christina Smith said.
A nonprofit group in Phoenix estimates that between 50,000 and 100,000 prostitutes flooded its city during Super Bowl XLII last year. Dallas police said they don’t know what to expect from the All-Star Game.
“I think it’s safe to say we will see some girls that are the traditional street prostitute, and fair to say, we can expect more of the escort-service type of girls,” Smith said.
The department is taking a page from the playbooks of other cities that have hosted high-profile sporting events, such as the NBA All-Star Game.
To prepare, the vice unit is adjusting officers’ schedules and hours so that all hands are on deck next week. Dallas police said they will focus on prostitution hotspots, such as Harry Hines Boulevard, as well as high-end hotels.
City, Police Working To Shut Down Illegal Brothels
by Marianne Martinez
Massage parlors being used as a front for houses of prostitution are being shut down all over Dallas – thanks to a concentrated effort between the city and police.
All over Dallas, it is becoming a common sight. So-called massage parlors shut down, doors locked.
“The goal is stop the prostitution activity that has plagued some neighborhoods in Dallas” says city attorney Tom Perkins.
It is a relief to people who have worked and lived near the parlors, like Mary Allred. “We don’t have the girls walking around anymore.”
She says business at her paint store has improved since a spa nearby, the Golden Flower, was shut down.
“We have more customers walking through than we used to. We’ve been busier.”
In the last six months, 15 such businesses have been closed, all due to a concentrated effort between city hall and Dallas police.
Once Dallas police undercover officers have evidence that prostitution is happening, they alert the city building officials.
City officials then look at the business’ certificate of occupancy, which is supposed to detail the type of business taking place.
An interesting program designed to help women leave the business. Read more at MedicalNews.net…
Program to help sex workers to go off the streets
Dallas prostitutes are getting a chance to change their lives, thanks to a collaboration among the Dallas Police Department, Dallas County Sheriff’s Office, Dallas County Commissioner’s Office, courts, Dallas County Health Department, Adult Probation Department, Parkland Hospital and Homeward Bound, which serves as the lead for more than 40 social service and faith-based organizations. The program offers prostitutes a comprehensive, multi-step, in-patient and out-patient treatment program as an alternative to further victimization and continued involvement in the criminal justice system. The University of North Texas Health Science Center evaluates data from the program in analyzing health trends and indicators in the prostitution community, which could lead to intervention and treatment.
Initiated in 2007, the Prostitute Diversion Initiative (PDI) targets prostitutes in a monthly sting operation at Dallas-area truck stops. But the goal isn’t to jail the offenders. Instead, they can avoid arrest, jail time and endangering public health through their risky behavior as part of an intervention by local law enforcement and community health services.
Dr. Martha Felini, assistant professor of epidemiology at the UNT Health Science Center at Fort Worth School of Public Health, has found preliminary results very encouraging. “In this hard-to-reach population of truck stop prostitutes who have the highest risks of experiencing violent death compared to other population subgroups, the potential of this program to save lives is tremendous,” Felini said. “We hope that early intervention will get prostitutes off the streets and improve public health in Dallas, as well as the hometowns of itinerant truckers throughout the country.”
Dallas police step up anti-prostitution efforts
by STEVE THOMPSON
This month, the Dallas city attorney’s office obtained an emergency order to shut down a northwest Dallas massage parlor accused of housing a prostitution ring involving underage girls.
The Golden Flower spa was the fifth massage parlor shut down this year, according to Dallas police. And while the others did not employ juveniles, police say prostitution in such businesses is a problem that has grown within the past year.
“Where we started out with one or two locations here and there, they started blossoming,” says vice squad Lt. Christina Smith. “We have a couple of areas in northwest Dallas where there are just multiple massage parlors within a couple of blocks of each other.”
Police say they have stepped up enforcement. This past week, Smith agreed to sit down for some questions about the effort.
Why is this a problem for Dallas?
We do get complaints from citizens, as well as surrounding businesses, that they don’t want this illegal activity in their neighborhoods. Prostitution is illegal, and we have women that are being prostituted. So this is a problem not just for the surrounding neighborhoods, but actually for the people that work in these locations. And because it is a criminal enterprise, there’s a possibility that there are other crimes that could take place that could jeopardize the safety of the people that are there.
When you suspect that there is prostitution in one of these businesses, what do you do to confirm that?
Without going into a lot of detail about our undercover operations, we do send undercover officers in. We talk to these women. They agree to a sex act for a fee, and the agreement is all that is needed to legally make a prostitution case.
A report by Melissa Cutler of Fox News in Dallas/Fort Worth…
Dallas Program Seeks to Help Prostitutes
A Dallas program is trying get prostitutes off the streets by putting them right into a treatment facility. It’s how various law enforcement and social services are trying to break the chain of prostitution. FOX 4’s Melissa Cutler explains.
Craigslist sex ads are a lot of territory for Dallas police to cover
By DIANE JENNINGS
Online ads for “erotic services” in Dallas pop up by the dozens each day on Craigslist, the hugely popular Internet classified site.
“Cute girl needs money,” says one, along with the picture of a half-naked blonde. “Perfect body,” boasts another, offering all-night specials.
The ads are part of a flourishing sex trade online, with Craigslist once again under scrutiny after a Boston man was charged last week with murdering a masseuse contacted through the site.
With more than 50 million users each month, Craigslist is one of the busiest Web sites in the world, offering ads for everything from carpools to computers.
The company’s chief has promised to review safety measures agreed to last year, but some law enforcement officials are calling for tougher steps.
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal urged Craigslist last week to stop “pimping and prostitution in plain sight.” He asked the site to immediately drop photographs in the “erotic services” category, hire staffers to screen images and ads that violate the site’s terms of service, and fine those who violate those rules.
Jim Buckmaster, chief executive officer for Craigslist, promised to work with authorities.
…
Dallas vice squad Lt. Christina Smith said officers monitor Internet sites such as Craigslist regularly and keep a sharp eye for “postings of people that appear to be young in age.”
She said Internet advertising makes enforcement of laws against the sex trade more difficult than in the past because the industry is no longer confined to the streets. There, she said, “you stop, you make the case, and you have the arrest.”
But with prostitutes on the Internet and customers cruising from their homes, officers must browse the sites, make a phone call to set up a “date,” wait for a call back, then go to the location – where the suspect may or may not show up.
“It definitely is more time-consuming,” she said.
Discerning who is looking for paid sex from who’s just looking for NSA (no strings attached) sex is more difficult.
The ads often use acronyms or code words. A “cuddy buddy” is a “friend with sexual benefits.” A reference to “150 roses” or “flowers” means $150 in exchange for sex.
Dallas police have learned to read between the lines. “I have a little cheat sheet of the terminology,” Smith said. “Oh, that’s what they’re talking about.”
Smith said that to avoid becoming a victim, users should be cautious and refrain from risky behavior.
Cautionary tales
Boston authorities last week charged Philip Markoff, a medical student, in the April 14 killing of Julissa Brisman. He is also charged in a robbery of another masseuse he allegedly met through Craigslist, and police are looking for more victims.
The high-profile case worries some local Craigslist users.
One Dallas resident whose husband has been advertising their “swinger” or “adult lifestyle” parties on Cragislist for a year said they’re going to drop their posting.
“I didn’t think about it until I saw it on TV,” she said, agreeing to talk if her name was not used.
“I’m going to have to be more careful. It’s scary.”
Looks like some trouble in a swingers circle. WOIA reports…
Prostitution Bust at Swingers Club
DUNCANVILLE, Texas (AP) – City officials have again raided a suburban Dallas swingers club in its latest efforts to shut it down.
Authorities raided the Cherry Pit late Saturday night, confiscating cash and client lists and briefly detaining about 60 people there, according to the club’s attorney. The search warrant alleged prostitution, money laundering, the operation of a sex club in a residential neighborhood and operating a sex club without a license.
“They had guns drawn when they busted down the door,” said Ed Klein, the Cherry Pit’s attorney, in a story on The Dallas Morning News Web site. “You’d have thought this was some kind of meth lab.”
The raid comes about 10 days after Duncanville police arrested Jim Trulock, co-owner of the Cherry Pit, and charged him with storing and serving alcoholic drinks without a permit. He was released after posting a $1,500 bond.
The charges followed a July search of the home, which is turned into the club on weekends, that revealed a large amount of alcohol. Duncanville leaders last fall adopted an ordinance that bans sex clubs. But officials say the parties continue at the home each weekend.
“We started out nice,” city manager Kent Cagle told the Dallas newspaper. “They’ve continued operating and been in your face about it.”
Prostitution is decreasing in Bryan, law enforcement officers say, but those who engage in it are becoming smarter at hiding their activity.
“Basically, our goal is to push them [out of town],” said Bryan police Sgt. Shane Bush. “We are paid by the citizens of Bryan, and we’re here to protect them and clean up their city.”
Undercover officers spent Friday and Saturday targeting prostitutes in a sting that resulted in at least 13 arrests.
“Vice is a victimless crime,” Bush said. “But vice is what deteriorates a neighborhood.”
Responding to the call
The Bryan Police Department’s Neighborhood Enforcement Team organized the sting in response to residents’ complaints about prostitutes, officer James Hauke said.
On Friday, undercover officers drove around Bryan looking for women to flag them down.
It didn’t take long; officers arrested five women in four hours. Two arrests were made less than two minutes apart, Bush said.
Around 6 p.m., a woman approached an undercover officer near Neal Elementary School. In another vehicle a few streets down, officers listened by radio to the conversation, waiting for the signal that the deal for sex had been made.
“Are you the law?” Jacquelin Crawford asked the officer, who assured her that he wasn’t.
When the officer asked if she knew what he was there for, she laughed.
“Everybody knows, and that’s why I asked if you were the law.”
Crawford offered advice on how not to get caught when prostituting and confessed that she had been arrested before.
In fact, she had been convicted of prostitution at least three times, officers said, elevating Crawford’s latest prostitution charge from a misdemeanor to a state jail felony punishable by up to two years’ incarceration.
On Saturday, she was in the Brazos County Jail, held on $5,000 bail.
A new court has been formed in Dallas that will deal exclusively with cases involving prostitution. KERA.com reports…
New Dallas County Court for Prostitution Cases Convenes
A new kind court is not convening weekly on the 7th Floor of the Dallas County courthouse. It will hear only prostiutution cases.
The specialty court is modeled after the very successful DIVERT and Re-Entry courts for drug offenders championed by Dallas County Judge John Creuzot. Judge Lana Myers will preside over this new court, which will convene every Monday afternoon.
Myers: I hate to call it prostitution court, and that’s why we aren’t calling it that. We’re calling it STAR Court, which stands for Strengthening, Transition and Recovery.
Judge Myers says each of the women chosen for the program will get substance abuse counseling, education programs, job counseling and referral, housing if necessary.
Myers: It’s not only good for them to try to get them healthy, off the streets and into a different kind of work, but it also benefits the community.
Judge Myers says the new court will work closely with a Dallas Police program designed to help break the cycle of arrest and jail for prostitution.
Massage parlors being used as a front for houses of prostitution are being shut down all over Dallas – thanks to a concentrated effort between the city and police.
