Westchester County Town Tries New Approach To Cracking Down On Illegal Massage Parlors
GREENBURGH, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- One Westchester County town wants to put an end to the sleazy side of massage parlors by requiring licensees.
So-called massage parlors that are suspected of being fronts for prostitution can be found in strip malls in just about every suburb, WCBS 880's Sean Adams reported.
"In the Town of Greenburgh, we believe that we have approximately eight establishments," Police Chief Chris McNerney said.
Oftentimes, the businesses will be shut down after a raid, but quickly reopen, Adams reported.
Now, when police in Greenburgh bust a suspected prostitution operation they can shut it down for good thanks to a local law requiring a town permit to operate, Adams reported.
"If we find individuals employed there who are not licensed by the state, they will be out of compliance, they will be violating the law and then we would have the authority to go in and close them," McNerney said. "When they are found to be violating the conditions of the local license, we'll be able to revoke it."
During an investigation in 2013, McNerney said the police department worked with the Department of Homeland Security because of concerns of human trafficking.
"There is a big pool of individuals that are doing this," McNerney said. "We've arrested them locally here and we found that they have been moved and different girls have come in here and when we do criminal histories on them some have been arrested as far away as Rhode Island and they generally live and originate out of Flushing, Queens."
There was no human trafficking found in Greenburgh, McNerney said.