Topless-club workers testify that police harassed patrons
Chief says crackdown was response to complaints about Bachman Lake bars
03/07/2000
By Todd Bensman / The Dallas Morning News
Employees of Bachman Lake-area topless clubs told a federal judge Monday that Dallas police officers raiding the bars in recently stepped-up scrutiny are menacing customers and hurting business.
Burch Management, which owns several large topless dance clubs in Dallas, has sued to halt the raids. Employees of the company told U.S. District Judge Jerry Buchmeyer that police blocked roads and questioned employees with no intention of arresting anyone.
Dallas Police Chief Terrell Bolton also testified in the daylong hearing, defending his strategy as necessary and said he hoped to make increased police activity in the area a permanent feature.
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[Note from Matthew Gaylor: How did we go from "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures" to police setting up roadblocks to "question" citizens?]