OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Arlington City Council Special Session – May 5, 2026: Human Trafficking, Growth, Data, and COG Dispute

City Council — Tuesday, May 5, 2026
BodyArlington, Texas
SessionCity Council
DateTuesday, May 5, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 2:55:43

Transcript — Verbatim
3:47

We're gonna go ahead and call the afternoon session of the city council meeting to order.

4:30

Humanseo, oochio, and L'autre, Humanseo, I'm not, I'm not, Iumanseo, I'm not L, Lanseo, oochio, clear.

53:36

L'homme, L'humanity, o Humanity.

1:07:30

Humanseo, I'm not sure, I'm not sure.

1:15:35

L'autre l'offre, l'autre, l'autre Oh Alright, we're gonna go ahead and call the afternoon session back to order.

1:31:08

We're gonna move on down the 3.1 target for Chief, you gonna do this.

1:31:14

I'm a sergeant with me.

1:31:15

Alright.

1:31:16

Good afternoon, Mayor Council Al Jones, Chief of Police.

1:31:20

Today we're represent uh presenting the human trafficking.

1:31:23

As Arlington, we prepare to welcome the World Cup in FIFA for 2026.

1:31:29

We know that the spotlight is going to be on our city.

1:31:32

In anticipation, our human trafficking strategies that is aimed at making Arlington not only a welcome host city, but a safe one.

1:31:51

I'll turn the presentation over to Sergeant McSlamovich, who oversees our human exploitation and trafficking.

1:31:58

Sir, good afternoon, Mayor and Council.

1:32:03

Uh my name is Terek Maslamovich, and I'm a sergeant with the Arlington Police Department, and I currently oversee our human exploitation and trafficking unit.

1:32:11

So again, thank you for this opportunity to talk about what our efforts are going to be this uh June and July, specifically as we uh look forward to the FIFA Raw Cup and what that's gonna bring to our city and how we will stand up to uh disrupt human trafficking.

1:32:29

Is there a there's got it?

1:32:32

Thank you.

1:32:32

Okay, I think it's appropriate to start off by just discussing a little bit about what human trafficking is.

1:32:38

Uh the most common thing that I uh get is that human trafficking and human smuggling are identical, and there certainly are not.

1:32:46

Uh we need to understand that human trafficking is a crime against a person, and that's what we investigate.

1:32:52

Uh, while human smuggling is uh crime against our borders.

1:32:56

So there's a distinct difference between those two, but to further identify what human trafficking is, it is um two components.

1:33:03

There is commercial sex trafficking, and then there's labor trafficking.

1:33:07

And in order to prove either one of those, we have to prove up the force fraud or coercion, or if the victim is under the age of 18.

1:33:15

And back in 2003, around springtime, through uh leadership of Chief Jones, we're fortunate to be able to stand up our unit, our heat unit.

1:33:24

And that unit's makeup is currently five detectives, a sergeant, and we also have a digital component involved where um we have a digital forensics lab at the Alliance for Children to examine our uh cell phones, computers, and other other digital forensics components.

1:33:41

When we were building this unit and we're looking how we can make it uh make it relevant to the our current time and age as it relates to human trafficking, we followed the four pillars that were created in 2021 by the White House.

1:33:55

These pillars were prevention, protection, prosecution, and then cross-cutting approaches, which is essentially partnerships.

1:34:02

We built our unit off of those four pillars uh to uh protect those vulnerable people in our city, hold those suspects accountable, but we spend a large amount of time educating our citizens and our stakeholders within the city on what human trafficking is, and we'll touch on that here in just a little bit.

1:34:19

So the big uh topic at hand is FIFA World Cup.

1:34:23

We know it's uh international large event.

1:34:26

Uh it's gonna draw a lot of international presence, it's gonna uh viewership across the world.

1:34:32

Um we know it's gonna bring a lot of uh visitors to our city, and we welcome them, right?

1:34:38

Uh but the thing that is, I think so important to mention, we're not uh city that's new to h hosting large events, and we're certainly not uh new to uh running operations around major events.

1:34:50

I can go as recent as April when we had NDCAR here in our city and we ran human trafficking operations.

1:34:57

So uh we are ready in that regard uh because we said we had now a couple years to really run some of our efforts to disrupt uh and protect those here visiting our city.

1:35:08

So why does it matter and why do large-scale events matter?

1:35:12

What's one thing is it brings a large crowd.

1:35:15

What we know is uh human trafficking suspects generally will seek large gatherings because that will keep their business of the criminal enterprise going.

1:35:27

They go to those events where there is a demand and then they exploit victims uh in that regard.

1:35:34

We know that traffickers explored through hotels, transportation, and online platforms.

1:35:40

We're in 2026, uh human trafficking has changed drastically, and it's certainly shifted to the online presence that we're very familiar with in my unit.

1:35:52

So our focus uh for FIFA specifically, and it this is true for really our general response to human trafficking, is recovering victims, connecting them with victim service providers.

1:36:04

We do a really good job as police officers to hold those suspects accountable, give the prosecutors a fantastic case and take it to trial and get those guilty verdicts.

1:36:14

But it is so important that we connect them to victim service providers because that is when the victim can get the chance to get out of that lifestyle and and begin their healing journey.

1:36:24

As I mentioned, holding suspects accountable is kind of our second goal, and the third one is we're gonna focus on sex trafficking, labor trafficking, and child exploitation.

1:36:34

Our unit's goal is not to just focus on human trafficking but the general child exploitation umbrella.

1:36:39

So we can we have to keep both encompassed because there's such a bleed over in those two categories.

1:36:47

And in the efforts of FIFA, we are standing up Operation Red Card where we're dedicating 13 uh proactive operating uh events for June and July, uh dedicated specifically to FIFA World Cup.

1:37:01

Our focus will be on victim outreach operations, demand suppression, online solicitation of minor operations, and traditional undercover operations.

1:37:11

I mentioned partnerships earlier.

1:37:13

Uh, a unit of five plus a sergeant certainly can do it alone, and then that is so true when it comes to large-scale events and operations.

1:37:21

So in this uh for uh Operation Red Card, we have Tarrant County Sheriff's Office, Fort Worth Police Department, Mansfield, Texas Department of Public Safety, or DPS, and the FBI all joining and dedicating resources to us when we stand up our efforts on uh on the partnership side along the alliance of victim service providers, we're gonna be working very closely with Rescue Hill, Alliance for Children, Unbound, A21, and the net.

1:37:49

All of these organizations are fantastic, and each of them provide uh different resources.

1:37:55

So they will be joining us in various different stages of these operations.

1:38:00

And then last but certainly not least, uh, our awesome prosecutors, both in with Tarrant County on the state side, Danielle Bonano and our AUSA Allison Monte, who's been assigned as lead over the Terran County district side for uh the federal prosecution.

1:38:16

So they're gonna be hands on deck with us to dictate which cases we're gonna take on the state side and which cases we're gonna take on the federal side.

1:38:26

Uh mentioned earlier, education is very important, it's important to our stakeholders, it's important to our citizens.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Procedural█████████████████████████████████████████████54%
Public Safety████████████14%
Economic Development█████████11%
Transportation Safety███████8%
Affordable Housing███3%
Engineering And Infrastructure███3%
Community Engagement█1%
Technology and Innovation█1%
Public Engagement█1%
Summary of Proceedings

Arlington City Council Special Meeting – May 5, 2026

The Arlington City Council convened in special session on Tuesday, May 5, 2026, at 2:15 p.m. in the Council Briefing Room. The meeting included an executive session (closed to the public) on real property and economic development negotiations, followed by a public work session and issues session. Key topics included preparations to combat human trafficking during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, an economic development quarterly report, a data management policy for Flock Safety automated license plate readers, committee reports, and a heated discussion about the Regional Transportation Council (RTC) and the North Central Texas Council of Governments (COG) dispute over transportation governance.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • No public comments were made during the meeting. The public session began after the executive session.

Discussion Items

3.1 Efforts to Combat Human Trafficking During the FIFA World Cup 2026

Police Chief Al Jones and Sergeant Tarik Muslimovic (head of the Human Exploitation and Trafficking Unit) presented a comprehensive plan. Key points:

  • Operation Red Card: 13 proactive operations scheduled for June and July 2026, focusing on victim outreach, demand suppression, online solicitation of minors, and traditional undercover operations.
  • Partnerships with Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office, Fort Worth PD, Mansfield PD, Texas DPS, FBI, and victim service providers (Rescue Hill, Alliance for Children, Unbound, A21, The Net). Prosecutors from Tarrant County and federal AUSA are engaged.
  • Past success: During the IndyCar event, a three-day operation resulted in 16 arrests for solicitation of prostitution.
  • Training and education efforts include an 8‑hour course for patrol officers, sessions with AISD, healthcare professionals, faith-based organizations, hotels/motels, and code enforcement.
  • A 24/7 human trafficking hotline will be staffed during FIFA; tips go directly to Sergeant Muslimovic. Council comments: Councilmember Boxall urged neighborhood awareness; Councilmember Odom‑Wesley asked about trafficking outside major events (acknowledged as a continuous problem); Councilmember Pham raised language barriers – Sergeant Muslimovic noted interpretation services through NGOs and language lines.

3.2 Council Priority – Grow Our Economy

Marty Wieder, Executive Director of the Arlington Economic Development Corporation (AEDC), gave a quarterly update. Highlights:

  • Business Attraction & Redevelopment: Emphasis on redevelopment due to built‑out city; collaboration with the Texas Economic Development Corporation via new staffer Christy Goodman Duke; foreign direct investment includes Jessica Byerley joining the Texas division of the European‑American Chamber of Commerce.
  • Small Business: LIFT fund approved 10 additional loans totaling $514,883, creating 36 full‑time jobs; industry‑specific cohorts (professional services, construction/trades, food & beverage); Arlington Business Certification program continues.
  • Innovation: New BERD program (Business Innovation and Research Development) to leverage federal SBIR/STTR funding (refunded April 13, 2026).
  • Upcoming Events: Japan‑Texas Economic Summit (May 11–13, 2026) hosted in Arlington for the next three years; IC³ life science summit returns September 24–25, 2026.
  • Film Commission: An announcement expected soon. Councilmember Gonzalez asked about sister‑city program funding – only $50,000 allocated for the sister‑city organization (capacity building, not travel). Travel would require existing departmental budgets or private funds.

4.1 Flock Safety Automated License Plate Reader Data Management

Police Chief Jones presented the data retention policy. The city retains ALPR data for 30 days; data is property of the city and used only for criminal investigation. Chief Jones differentiated from red‑light cameras (outlawed for automated traffic enforcement) by noting Flock cameras capture only license plates visible in public, not personal information. Data is shared with other North Texas agencies (e.g., Grand Prairie, Fort Worth, Dallas) with mutual consent. Private entities (apartments, HOAs, Walmart) also use Flock cameras. Councilmember Pham praised the system for solving crimes; Chief Jones noted a 100% homicide clearance rate in 2025 was enabled by this technology. City Manager Yelverton added that the city is just one user; many private enterprises operate cameras independently.

4.2 Municipal Policy Committee (Cancelled)

The committee could not meet due to lack of a quorum. Councilmember Boxall, who will not be on the next council, advocated for adoption of Texas Senate Bill 2835 (single‑stair residential buildings), arguing it would allow smaller apartment buildings (up to 20 units), revitalize corridors like Collins Street, and prevent large complexes from assembling land for “Texas donuts.” Councilmember Odom‑Wesley noted safety features and affordability benefits. No formal action taken.

4.3 Community & Neighborhood Development Committee

Councilmember Boxall reported on two items:

  1. Multi‑Family Inspections & International Property Maintenance Code (IPMC): The committee recommended including all multi‑family properties in the draft IPMC ordinance to give code enforcement an additional tool.
  2. Expanding Multi‑Family Recycling: Only four apartment complexes currently have voluntary recycling. Staff will explore a franchise approach where Republic Services provides recycling to the largest complexes. Staff will meet with the Tarrant County Apartment Association and Arlington Board of Realtors. Councilmember Gonzalez cautioned about contamination issues experienced with public recycling bins.

4.5 Evening Agenda Items (Preview)

  • Item 11.3 – Harmony Court: Councilmember Gonzalez expressed concern about a proposed 7‑Eleven convenience store at Collins Street and Debbie Lane, noting that other corners could host gas stations by right but are impractical. The applicant now has a brand name (7‑Eleven) and limited access issues have been addressed.
  • Item 11.4 – Debbie Lane/Glenday Drive: Jancy Dopal (Planning Director) explained gas well setbacks – protected uses must be 600 feet from well heads; residential developments have a reverse setback of 300 feet. Councilmember Boxall noted that smaller drill zones would prevent future conflicts. Councilmember Odom‑Wesley requested a full contextual review of Debbie Lane at the evening meeting.

4.6 Issues Relative to City and TxDOT Projects

Mayor Ross deferred the topic to the external committee reports.

4.7 Council External Committee and Training Reports

  • National League of Cities (Gonzalez): Virtual meeting on April 16 discussed budget communications (Arlington’s video and Jay Warren featured), streamlining Federal Grants Act, and a new Municipal 101 tool.
  • Regional Transportation Council (RTC) & COG Dispute (Ross): Mayor Ross provided extensive background. A lawsuit filed by Denton County against the COG Executive Board over MPO governance led to a temporary restraining order (later lifted). COG’s executive director fired Michael Morris (RTC executive) on April 28 – Morris was reinstated by court order on May 5. The council voted to join the RTC’s intervention in the lawsuit. Mayor Ross stated that the quickest resolution is for COG to sign the TxDOT‑drafted MPO agreement, which clarifies roles. He asked the council for direction to Councilmember Hogg (Arlington’s COG representative) to vote for signing. The council unanimously agreed (nods and verbal assent).
  • North Texas Commission Executive Committee (Ross): Reviewed new members (Republic Services, CLEAR, JP Morgan Chase).
  • U.S. Conference of Mayors Mayor’s Cohort (Ross): Inaugural May 16–18 session in Arlington with ~19 mayors focused on leadership traits of Medal of Honor recipients; the U.S. Conference of Mayors requested it become an annual event in Arlington.

4.8 Future Agenda Items

  • Councilmember Odom‑Wesley: Requested an overview of resources and services to improve health metrics (obesity, diabetes, hypertension, infant mortality, maternal morbidity).
  • Councilmember Galante: Requested a presentation on stormwater issues, especially creek and flood problems affecting private and city property.
  • Mayor Ross: Thanked Councilmember Boxall for her service (her term ends soon).

Key Outcomes

  • Direction on COG/MPO Agreement: The Council unanimously agreed to instruct Councilmember Hogg to vote for the TxDOT‑drafted MPO agreement at the COG Executive Board, supporting the RTC’s position and the reinstatement of Michael Morris.
  • Human Trafficking Operation: Staff will implement Operation Red Card during the FIFA World Cup with 13 proactive operations, extensive partnerships, and a 24/7 hotline. Council expressed strong support and requested continued resources.
  • Flock Camera Policy: The data retention policy (30 days, crime‑investigation only) received council support; no formal vote needed.
  • Multi‑Family Inspections and Recycling: Staff will proceed with drafting an IPMC ordinance covering all multifamily properties and will explore a franchise recycling program with stakeholder meetings.
  • Evening Agenda Preview: Council will hear details on the Harmony Court convenience store (item 11.3) and the Debbie Lane/Glenday Drive gas well setbacks (item 11.4) at the 6:30 p.m. regular session.
  • Future Items Added: Health metrics overview and stormwater data review will be scheduled.

Meeting adjourned at 5:06 p.m.

Meeting Transcript

We're gonna go ahead and call the afternoon session of the city council meeting to order. Humanseo, oochio, and L'autre, Humanseo, I'm not, I'm not, Iumanseo, I'm not L, Lanseo, oochio, clear. L'homme, L'humanity, o Humanity. Humanseo, I'm not sure, I'm not sure. L'autre l'offre, l'autre, l'autre Oh Alright, we're gonna go ahead and call the afternoon session back to order. We're gonna move on down the 3.1 target for Chief, you gonna do this. I'm a sergeant with me. Alright. Good afternoon, Mayor Council Al Jones, Chief of Police. Today we're represent uh presenting the human trafficking. As Arlington, we prepare to welcome the World Cup in FIFA for 2026. We know that the spotlight is going to be on our city. In anticipation, our human trafficking strategies that is aimed at making Arlington not only a welcome host city, but a safe one. I'll turn the presentation over to Sergeant McSlamovich, who oversees our human exploitation and trafficking. Sir, good afternoon, Mayor and Council. Uh my name is Terek Maslamovich, and I'm a sergeant with the Arlington Police Department, and I currently oversee our human exploitation and trafficking unit. So again, thank you for this opportunity to talk about what our efforts are going to be this uh June and July, specifically as we uh look forward to the FIFA Raw Cup and what that's gonna bring to our city and how we will stand up to uh disrupt human trafficking. Is there a there's got it? Thank you. Okay, I think it's appropriate to start off by just discussing a little bit about what human trafficking is. Uh the most common thing that I uh get is that human trafficking and human smuggling are identical, and there certainly are not. Uh we need to understand that human trafficking is a crime against a person, and that's what we investigate. Uh, while human smuggling is uh crime against our borders. So there's a distinct difference between those two, but to further identify what human trafficking is, it is um two components. There is commercial sex trafficking, and then there's labor trafficking. And in order to prove either one of those, we have to prove up the force fraud or coercion, or if the victim is under the age of 18. And back in 2003, around springtime, through uh leadership of Chief Jones, we're fortunate to be able to stand up our unit, our heat unit. And that unit's makeup is currently five detectives, a sergeant, and we also have a digital component involved where um we have a digital forensics lab at the Alliance for Children to examine our uh cell phones, computers, and other other digital forensics components. When we were building this unit and we're looking how we can make it uh make it relevant to the our current time and age as it relates to human trafficking, we followed the four pillars that were created in 2021 by the White House. These pillars were prevention, protection, prosecution, and then cross-cutting approaches, which is essentially partnerships. We built our unit off of those four pillars uh to uh protect those vulnerable people in our city, hold those suspects accountable, but we spend a large amount of time educating our citizens and our stakeholders within the city on what human trafficking is, and we'll touch on that here in just a little bit. So the big uh topic at hand is FIFA World Cup. We know it's uh international large event. Uh it's gonna draw a lot of international presence, it's gonna uh viewership across the world. Um we know it's gonna bring a lot of uh visitors to our city, and we welcome them, right? Uh but the thing that is, I think so important to mention, we're not uh city that's new to h hosting large events, and we're certainly not uh new to uh running operations around major events. I can go as recent as April when we had NDCAR here in our city and we ran human trafficking operations. So uh we are ready in that regard uh because we said we had now a couple years to really run some of our efforts to disrupt uh and protect those here visiting our city. So why does it matter and why do large-scale events matter? What's one thing is it brings a large crowd. What we know is uh human trafficking suspects generally will seek large gatherings because that will keep their business of the criminal enterprise going. They go to those events where there is a demand and then they exploit victims uh in that regard. We know that traffickers explored through hotels, transportation, and online platforms. We're in 2026, uh human trafficking has changed drastically, and it's certainly shifted to the online presence that we're very familiar with in my unit. So our focus uh for FIFA specifically, and it this is true for really our general response to human trafficking, is recovering victims, connecting them with victim service providers. We do a really good job as police officers to hold those suspects accountable, give the prosecutors a fantastic case and take it to trial and get those guilty verdicts. But it is so important that we connect them to victim service providers because that is when the victim can get the chance to get out of that lifestyle and and begin their healing journey. As I mentioned, holding suspects accountable is kind of our second goal, and the third one is we're gonna focus on sex trafficking, labor trafficking, and child exploitation. Our unit's goal is not to just focus on human trafficking but the general child exploitation umbrella. So we can we have to keep both encompassed because there's such a bleed over in those two categories.

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