by Frank Lee
operations@thenewsleaders.com
Sex trafficking is not just a big-city problem, according to St. Joseph Police Chief Joel Klein, but everyone’s problem, including St. Joseph.
During the May 16 St. Joseph City Council meeting, Klein talked about having the “necessary tools” for attorneys to prosecute such activities and the need for area cities to adopt similar ordinances.
“For those who don’t think it’s here, it is here,” Klein said about human trafficking.
The ordinance Klein suggested the council adopt is the same ordinance already adopted by Waite Park and includes identifying an area where sexually-oriented businesses would be allowed.
Most cities use an industrial area to define where some kinds of sexually-oriented businesses would be allowed, and St. Joseph follows suit. According to Klein, however, the closure of Motel 6 in Waite Park has led to some undesirable activity of a sexual nature to relocate to St. Joseph.
“Maybe the volume out here might not be as great as it is in St. Cloud or Waite Park, but we definitely do have a problem,” said Klein, who has been working with other area cities’ police chiefs from Sartell, Sauk Rapids, Waite Park and St. Cloud to tackle sex trafficking locally.
The ordinance defines “sexually-oriented businesses” to include adult arcades, adult bookstores, novelty stores and video stores, adult cabarets and adult theaters, just to name a few examples.
The council ended up adopting the ordinance proposed by Klein that included amending the related fee schedule: $2,000 for a background check, $750 for an annual license and $75 annually per employee for sexually-oriented businesses.
“It gives some extra teeth and another tool in the toolbox for them (law-enforcement officials) to use when dealing with human trafficking,” Klein said of the ordinance that was adopted unanimously.
The purpose and intent of the sexually-oriented business regulations in the ordinance is “to preserve the quality and vitality of neighborhoods . . . restrain increased criminal activity and slow the spread of sexually-transmitted diseases.”
“The idea behind all the metro cities of adopting the same ordinance is not that we are pushing the problem to one city or to the next city but to unite together, so we have the same ordinance to enforce,” Klein said.
