It was around noon on Harry Hines Boulevard in northwest Dallas.
A young woman wearing a short dress and sandals is walking up and down a busy corner in the 2600 block of Southwell Road, talking on the phone.
Another woman strolls around Harry Hines wearing a G-string. She spotted her NBC 5 camera and turned around.
Managers say this is blatant and in-your-face behavior, even on tough Harry Hines Boulevard, which has a long history of prostitution.
One store owner told NBC 5 that Friday mornings are especially busy.
The “johns” are paid to cruise for their comrades.
“I would say we have 30 to 50 girls in our neighborhood at 635 and Northwest Highway at any given time,” said Drew McGill, a broker who represents $38 million worth of real estate in Northwest Dallas. said. “Ten years ago, a lot of it was in the Design District.”
The growth of the Design District is only pushing more prostitution into northwest Dallas, he said.
“It all came together and now it’s here,” he said. “Unfortunately, the problem has gotten so big that it’s no longer about the middle of the night, it’s about the middle of the day. On top of that, we also have homeless people who are really violent. Petty thefts have skyrocketed. .”
McGill and dozens of other fed-up business owners met privately with Dallas police Thursday afternoon to discuss their ongoing concerns, officials said.
The meeting came weeks after a shooting was reported near Parker University on Walnut Hill Lane.
Organizers did not allow media to attend.
Mr McGill said it was the first meeting of its kind in years and welcomed it, but many people felt unheard.
“I think [police] “I just wanted to say, ‘Crime is down 14 percent,’” he said. “Everyone was making a fuss. You could feel the energy. That’s not accurate.”
Luis Nuno, who owns a business in the area, attended the rally and said many people were “angry.”
“It’s clear that the police department is under-resourced by the city’s elected officials,” Nuno said.
They argue that the problem is not that police aren’t doing their job, but that they need more resources.
“They said, we can’t dedicate more people here because we don’t have enough police officers to handle this situation,” Nuno said.
McGill said DPD needs to use a different approach when determining what resources are needed in areas that are primarily industrial and have warehouses.
According to DPD’s online crime map, there have been 93 arrests for solicitation of prostitution so far this year. The majority of arrests occurred in the North West region.
In a statement provided to NBC 5, DPD spokesperson Christine Lowman said:
“While violent crime prevention is a priority for the department, so are our community’s concerns about prostitution. Since March, the department has conducted four operations targeting people soliciting prostitution in the North West region. These four operations were carried out in the North West region in response to concerns voiced by business owners and local residents in areas most affected by prostitution. However, efforts will continue across the city. ”
DPD continues to listen to residents’ concerns and continue working to combat this issue.
