Dallas City Council amended the city’s ordinance against prostitution Wednesday after a municipal court ruled it was overbroad and unconstitutional, but one council member said the amended version is still too vague.
The new ordinance outlines ways law enforcement can determine if a person intentionally committed an offense. That includes known sex workers and procurers who frequent locations, people who repeatedly beckon passersby or motorists, and people who repeatedly interfere with the free passage of others.
But while supporters say the updated ordinance would improve quality of life in Dallas, Council Member Adam Bazaldua called it a tool that will give probable cause to harass people.
“This doesn't help the victims of sex trafficking on our street,” he said. “This may help people who are driving on their ways to and from work to not see what they don't want to see, but that does not help, overall, the problem that is on our streets. In fact, it more than likely pushes it into the dark more.”
Bazaldua was the lone council member to vote against the ordinance, but he stood firm behind his decision speaking with KERA News Wednesday.
When sex workers are picked up by the city’s VICE Unit and taken back to the police station, Bazaldua said there is a huge intimidation factor that builds a lack of trust.
“In the end, the victims of the sex industry become victims of now the law enforcement as well,” he said.
Prostitution offenses are overseen by the Dallas Police Department’s Special Investigations Division and involve undercover operations.
Despite concern that the ordinance language is still vague, Major Devon Palk said a manifestation ordinance allows officers to respond to complaints of prostitution when a unit is not in the area to make a case.
“This ordinance gives us the ability to encounter individuals that are involved with prostitution,” he said. “That encounter also gives us the ability to speak with them, try and get that case on their trafficker, as well as push them into services.”
Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Carolyn King Arnold, who voted in favor of the ordinance, said her constituents in District 4 have witnessed incidents of people selling sex around churches and schools.
“We need [the ordinance] in order to get the quality of life in terms that we're looking at for economic development,” she said. “We can't get decent housing; we can't get the level of equity that we're looking for without having some sense of stability and public safety.”
