Lt. Nancy Dunlap, who works in the sex crimes unit of the Minneapolis Police Department, had some reservations. Groups working with sex workers come and go, she said, but the North Side could benefit from a service like this and Martin is “really determined to pull this together.”
There are issues as yet unresolved, such as security and drug use around or near the center, but these are issues the neighborhood has long been dealing with, Dunlap said.
She sees the drop-in center as being a “first step toward getting out of prostitution.”
“When you really, really think about it, it’s not a job women really want to do. It’s a last resort,” Dunlap said.
“I think that’s why the church is taking it on. They see it, they know it. It’s a problem a lot of people have closed their eyes to, where they look at women as criminals instead of victims,” Dunlap said, stressing how women are forced into prostitution to support themselves, their families or their drug habits, or because of pimps or gangs.
See the full article from “MinnPost.com”