Each month, the Advocate visits with Sgt. Jim Little, Sr. Pam Maines and Sr. Peak Street The Storefront is best-known for its bicycle patrol officers, who pedal the streets of East Dallas weekdays. The City of Dallas funds the Storefront, but numerous volunteers and organizations provide both hours and funds to develop special programs aimed at building better relations among police officers and neigborhoods. Tri is one of only two Vietnamese officers on the 3,plus Dallas police force.
He has been assigned to the Storefront since October, but he just recently was trained and equipped for bicycle patrol. We had one girl who was in a vacant apartment, and as we were standing there, she bent over and spit out a whole mouthful of crack cocaine. You know, we told someone else who had crack in their mouth that you have to be careful β if you swallow that stuff, you can die. East Side and Junius streets in the Junius Heights area have also had lots of activity.
Just the other day, we rode up on a prostitute who was just finishing the job, and the guy is zipping his pants. I mean, we caught them right there in the street. Advocate: You mean, she was actually working right in the street? Out in full view, with cards driving by the whole time and everything?
And this was right on a residential street, right out in front of her house. Advocate: In the scheme of things, how serious of a crime is prostitution? I mean, if murders and sex offenses and all of that are decreasing, is prostitution something we really should be worried about?
Rick: Married guys, businessmen out on their lunch break. But the word was out that East Dallas was the place to come for prostitutes. Jim: No, they usually come back β if not to that area, then another one β and continue to be a problem. Rick: We try to make as many arrests as we can, because they communicate with each other. After three or four days of enforcement , they disappear.
