Her wide-open, bloodshot eyes dart back and forth, scanning the area, trying to make sense of what is going on. Her short black dress clings to her plump body, almost disappearing against her dark skin, and offers no protection from the chilling, late-night breeze. The jet-black ringlets of her clip-on ponytail fall around her head and over her forehead, occasionally obstructing her view. Her arms are pulled behind her back at an angle that betrays to everyone around her that she is in trouble. Vicky has been arrested for soliciting sex. She is being charged with prostitution, this she knows. What she may not understand is why she now finds herself in the middle of a parking lot. Before her is a square area marked off by four large RV-like vehicles. Folding chairs and tables are arranged in the enclosed space. Directly in front of her lies a long, folding, faux-wood table. Here, if Vicky agrees to cooperate, she will be given the opportunity to start over.

A Chance to Start Over

This is a special night for all the women picked up by the Dallas police on prostitution charges. Rather than being immediately taken to jail and promptly booked, these women are escorted to the parking lot of the Dallas Fire Academy and given the opportunity to help themselves and a chance to change their lives through Dallas’ Prostitution Diversion Initiative.

In 2007, the Dallas Police Department, the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department and Dallas County Health and Human Services teamed up and, along with the help of nonprofit organizations in the area, began offering women picked up for prostitution the resources they need to get clean and get off the streets permanently. The Prostitution Diversion Initiative (PDI) was started to help combat the “revolving door” tendency that is so prevalent in the sex trade industry. The PDI program attempts to provide sex workers “an alternative to continued involvement in the criminal justice system and further victimization at the hands of promoters and customers of prostitution,” according to the program’s mission statement. Once a month, PDI holds an operation night when the women who are picked up by a select group of patrol and vice officers, as well as women who walk up seeking help, are processed and offered admittance to the program and a treatment facility. Of the women the program reaches out to, 33% complete a treatment program, and 48% of those women stay off the streets, according to the 2010-2011 annual report.

Lending a Hand

Behind the long table sits Cecilia Clark, a young black woman with dark hair that curls slightly just below her chin. Her job tonight is to make sure that every one of her “guests” is quickly provided with an individual folder containing all the forms and information they will need as they’re processed throughout the night.

“I just wanna hug ’em all and say ‘Oh, it’s gonna be ok, honey!’,” says Clark.

While Clark gathers and fills out the necessary paperwork, a female officer collects any possessions the “guests” have with them. These items are placed in a clear plastic bag with the owner’s last name hastily written in dark green marker and sealed. Finally, the “guest” is released from handcuffs and offered some warm clothing.

“This isn’t mine,” one woman, Linda, says as she holds a light gray sweater tentatively in her hands.

“I know,” says the officer, before turning to finish sealing up the woman’s belongings.

“Oh,” is all Linda says in recognition before she quickly pulls the sweater over her small, thin frame.

Next, a female officer escorts the woman to a private room, where a more through search in conducted. The woman has now completed “intake” and moves on to Intel, where a detective questions her about why and how long she has been on the streets, where she works and whether or not she has any information on underage girls who may be working the streets as well.

Advocacy in Action

After questioning, the woman moves to the counseling step. Here, she is asked a few questions to establish what her needs are in regards to a treatment program, like whether or not she has children to care for, a home, or drug addiction. Then she is taken to a table where an individual with state license in psychiatry, social work, or another approved field, known as an assessor, from a treatment center and an advocate will speak with her. While the woman is questioned, she is offered food and water.

“The assessor has some pretty tough questions,” says Tammy Turon, a volunteer with PDINewLife, the organization that puts the operation together. “Everything from mental health to past drug uses to if they have kids, all of that tricky stuff. They’re trying to ask the hard questions and the advocate is trying to build rapport, to make them more comfortable to tell the truth.”

“The process for a woman might take a couple of hours, it might take longer,” says Renee Breazeale, one of the PDINewLife executive committee members. “It depends on their level of cooperation [and] their level of sobriety.”

Once the assessor can make an informed recommendation, the next step is the Health and Human Services RV, where the woman is tested and treated for chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis and HIV. The woman must agree to treatment if she wishes to finish the program. The woman is then photographed and given an identification tag while her information is entered into a database.

Given A Choice

Finally, she is taken before a judge who looks over all of her information, paperwork, citations and the recommendation of the assessor. The judge then offers the woman a choice: agree to be escorted to the treatment facility she has been recommended for or go to jail. The program is completely optional and requires the consent of every woman at ever stage.

Vicky quickly consumes two sandwiches, six small cookies, a bag of Doritos and a 7 Up as Blake Fetterman, the assessor, and Kim Ogilvie attempt to get through their questions. As the advocate, Ogilvie runs back and forth, collecting items as Vicky requests them: a pair of socks, some Kleenex, a blanket, more cookies. In the meantime, Fetterman tries to work as quickly as possible, since Vicky seems agitated and restless. Vicky’s patience runs out when she is told that she will have to go to jail tonight. She begins to speak loudly, almost yelling, and swings her arm over the table, sending the remainder of her 7 Up, the box of Kleenex and an unopened bottle of water flying across the parking lot. Shortly after, a male officer escorts her away to be booked in jail. Vicky was brought in by a vice officer, as is indicated by a round green sticker on her file. The sticker indicates that she was arrested for offering sex to an undercover agent and doesn’t qualify to enter a treatment program tonight because she must go to jail for soliciting to a cop. However, based on her answers, Vicky has been recommended to start treatment directly after she is released.

“In another circumstance it might be any one of us out there working for food,” says Dallas County Sheriff Shearon. “That’s the way I see it. That’s why I come out and help.”