Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson and State Sen. Jeff Klein were joined by law enforcement officials Thursday to urge passage of the "Bawdy House Bill", introduced by Klein in Albany.

The legislation would empower law enforcement to help landlords speed up eviction cases for people who use their homes for crimes such as drug dealing or prostitution.

Advocates say with a major court backlog, repeat offenders are often able to stay in their homes because landlords are not able to bring solid cases.

"Many cases, the eviction proceedings are dropped and the problems in these residential units persist," Klein said.

"There are judges around the city and the state who say no the DA's not a party. you're bringing the case, the DA has to stand down, and stand back. This is just a simple solution, to have an efficient, quality way of bringing evidence before a court," Johnson said.

The bill has the support of all five city district attorneys.