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Houston police target Bissonnet sex trafficking
The Bissonnet track in southwest Houston known for prostitution and human trafficking is getting more attention from law enforcement. It took barricades on the road to curb crime in the area. FOX 26's Jade Flury has more on the changes happening in the area.
HOUSTON - The Bissonnet Track, an area of southwest Houston known for prostitution and human trafficking, is getting law enforcement help that's making a difference. For years, the area's been an issue, but it took the installation of barricades on the road to curb crime.
The Houston Police Department was using temporary barricades to block off the high-traffic area. On Friday, permanent barricades were put in to put an end to prostitution.
The owner and the general manager of Southwest Auto Center know firsthand about the sex crime problems on the Bissonnet Track.
"There were at least 10 to 15 girls out during the day. At night, it got worse, more girls and a lot of young-looking girls," said Rosario Gonzalez, the general manager of Southwest Auto Center.
They said the crime was enough to scare customers away.
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"There were people who would come in and say you know, I would drive by and there was all the girls and stuff standing outside so we just kept going. so we knew we were losing customers by them being out here," said Gonzalez.
Back in 2023, HPD began an initiative to clean up the Bissonnet Track to make it safer for people living and working in the area.
"When we started implementing our road closures in May of last year, what happened was, it disrupted the flow of the criminal activity that would occur out there and so it really dried up the area," said Commander Reece Hardy of the Houston Police Department's Westside Division. "We've seen a tremendous downturn in the amount of foot traffic out in the area, specifically prostitution-related activity, human trafficking-related activity."
The Harris County District Attorney's office recently put away two men who pleaded guilty to pimping underage girls in 2021.
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"These are two human traffickers who pled guilty to human trafficking," said Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg. "That didn't use to happen. We used to have to ask for jury trials in almost all these cases, and we were dependent upon the victim's testimony, which was often compromised by her relationship with her pimp, her drug addiction, her own jail record, and other issues."
Twenty-three-year-old Deqoriyahn Hawkins received a 14-year sentence, and 24-year-old Jeremiah Roney got 13 years behind bars.
"Our prosecutors are taking human trafficking prosecution to a new level and what we’re seeing are huge sentences by juries even for first offenders, pimps, and traffickers," said Ogg. "Those who are exploiting 12, 13-year-olds, I think deserve special attention by our prosecutors because it's one thing to harm an adult, it's terrible, but those children have been marred for life."
Since the installation of permanent barriers and increased police presence in the area, the crime rates have reportedly dropped.
"Human trafficking has gone down 24% in District J, which is the second-largest drop off of any violent crime other than murder," said Edward Pollard, Houston City Councilman for District J.
The initiative aligns with ongoing efforts to address the root causes of sex crimes.
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"We’re proud of the fact that we’ve had a lot of police presence, a lot of attention on the Bissonnet Track, which we now call the Bissonnet Corridor," said Pollard. "And the proof is in the pudding. If you drive down the street, you won't see the same activity."
"There’s nobody out here now. They’re gone completely," said Gonzalez.
The gates here close every night and reopen in the morning. During a city council meeting, two developers put in applications to build multifamily housing in the area.