Suffolk seeks to do away with hotel hourly rates to combat sex and human trafficking
Legis. Chad Lennon (C-Rocky Point) looks on during a Suffolk County Public Safety Committee meeting at the Suffolk County Legislature in Hauppauge on Thursday. Credit: Barry Sloan
Suffolk County may outlaw hourly rates at hotels and motels while also lengthening the duration the businesses are required to keep photo identification records and security footage to help law enforcement combat human trafficking.
The proposed legislation adds language into existing county code regulating the industry as lawmakers seek to make Suffolk "completely bereft of hotels and motels that serve as attractive venues for crimes," notably sex trafficking, according to the bill.
Businesses would be required to keep digital copies of photo identifications of guests for five years and maintain security footage for a minimum of 90 days.
The proposed legislation follows a pair of presentations before the legislature’s Public Safety Committee this year on human trafficking from members of the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office and Suffolk County Police Department. It comes amid a Newsday investigation this summer that shone a spotlight on human trafficking and the case of a then missing teenage girl that has since resulted in 23 arrests across two states tied to her disappearance.
Legis. Chad Lennon (C-Rocky Point), the bill’s lead sponsor, said ongoing conversations between lawmakers and law enforcement officials led to the legislation to close "gaps and holes" traffickers exploit. He said the bill gives law enforcement "further resources to really go after all these traffickers."
The legislation sets a minimum of one overnight stay and links hourly rates to human trafficking by noting those are "attractive venues due to their lower cost and expedited nature of the stay."
The committee on Thursday advanced the bill to a public hearing next Tuesday at the general meeting in Hauppauge. Public hearings begin at 2 p.m.
The bill will likely go back to committee and could be voted on by the full legislature in December.
"This is just a start," Lennon said. "We’re not done yet."
Lennon said he did not have information on the number of hotels and motels that currently offer hourly rates, but acknowledged, "I don’t think it’s very common."
The businesses can face fines of $250 for a first offense of violating county code, an increase from $100. And each subsequent offense would be a $1,000 fine, an increase from $200.
Hotels and motels were already required to keep a register of guests detailing names, residence, date of arrival and departure. They would now need to maintain those records for five years instead of three if the bill is approved.
Inv. Sgt. Erin Meunkle, who works with trafficking victims at the Suffolk correctional facility, told lawmakers in February the problem extends beyond small roadside motels.
"It’s the larger hotels, too," she said. "I have had people ask me before, ‘Well, do hotels even rent rooms by hour anymore?’ But it’s become bigger than that."
She described scenarios where criminals rent multiple rooms for several weeks.
"They're selling drugs out of one room and they're selling people out of another room and they're just hanging out and partying in the other room collecting the money," she said.
During the presentation she showed a map of hotels and motels where trafficking situations have been reported. The map showed more than 30 locations.
Sheriff Errol Toulon Jr. said in a statement Thursday that human trafficking occurs "in nearly every hotel and motel across Long Island."
“This legislation will give law enforcement stronger tools to investigate and put traffickers behind bars," he added.
In July, Det. Sgt. James Johnson of the Suffolk Police Department’s Human Trafficking Investigations Unit told lawmakers the unit has identified 529 human trafficking victims since 2017 and noted about 90% are "homegrown" from Suffolk.
Before the unit’s founding, there had been two arrests and convictions in Suffolk for human trafficking related offenses, he said. As of July, Suffolk police have arrested 190 people on 959 charges, he said.
Johnson said during the presentation hotel outreach is a critical part of combating human trafficking. He said he frequently visits locations and encourages managers to enforce photo identification requirements.
He said even if an identification is fraudulent, it’s a clue for investigators to pursue.
"We've recovered from subpoenas hotel records where Mickey Mouse rented rooms for weeks at a time," he said.
Legis. Steven J. Flotteron (R-Brightwaters), the deputy presiding officer and chair of the committee, said in an interview Thursday those presentations were a "first step to educate all the legislators" about human trafficking.
"We all had our prejudice of what human trafficking was," he said. "It’s like the movie Taken or someone smuggled in from another country. I don’t think anybody really realized, no, it’s not. It’s our own kids."
Joe Werkmeister joined Newsday in 2022 and covers Suffolk County government and politics. He is a graduate of St. Bonaventure University and previously worked as the editor of two North Fork community newspapers.
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