SCOTTSDALE – None of the touching was violent. There was no suspected prostitution.

However, when undercover Scottsdale police officers investigated Skin and Babe’s cabarets earlier this year, they found a number of city sex-ordinance violations that led to 81 criminal citations. If found guilty of three of these violations, either establishment could have its license revoked by the city.

Scottsdale City Council’s unanimous decision this week to further restrict sexually oriented businesses came after officials reviewed the police reports from separate stings at Skin and Babe’s – a club bought earlier this year by adult-film star Jenna Jameson.

Officials said Tuesday’s vote would protect residents by allowing the city to modify its code to further restrict how much flesh dancers can expose, and other elements to live adult entertainment.

“This is what city government is supposed to do – protect neighborhoods,” said Mayor Mary Manross.

“It is our responsibility to be rewriting this ordinance,” she said.

Manross added that Scottsdale is not trying to take away First Amendment rights. Officials have expressed concern with secondary effects of sexually oriented businesses.

Since Sept. 20, police have been called 12 times to Skin, and five times to Babe’s, according to police records. During the same period, Sugar Daddy’s had 20 calls for service while Flicka’s Baja Cantina had 11, police said.

Suspected violations range from theft to criminal damage, though police have not reported any recurring problems with violence, drugs or prostitution at the clubs.

The police investigations were conducted in late August, less than two weeks after Jameson bought Babe’s.

Since then, Jameson announced the name would be changed to Club Jenna, and that she planned on emphasizing a more upscale adult ambience.

One of the citations noted in the recent police stings involved a topless Babe’s dancer pressing her breasts in the face of an undercover Scottsdale officer.

Twenty-nine other citations involved patrons slipping cash directly to dancers, some of which led to multiple citations.

According to the police report, dancers were cited for allowing patrons to reach over the barrier, and for allowing patrons to place cash on their bodies.

Most of the citations were related to administration errors, unlicensed strippers and managers who failed to stop patrons from touching the women.

The city accomplished its goal with the sex club sting by investigating whether or not Babe’s and Skin were in any way in violation of the city’s sexually oriented business code, said Scottsdale police Sgt. Mark Clark.

None of the violations was any more harmful than others, he said.

“It’s all part of the same ordinance,” Clark said.

“It’s a reflection of what the city feels is the proper way these businesses should be run, and how these exotic dancers should present themselves for patrons,” he said.