Image courtesy Jason Cragg

Yes, we all had a good laugh about the enforcement of “prostitution free zones” during last year’s Inauguration festivities. But a DCist reader emailed this morning to point our attention to this post at change.org which strikes a much less whimsical chord.

The writeup references a new report by the Alliance for a Safe & Diverse DC [PDF], which, among a comprehensive review of context and recommendations, details the results of a survey given to sex workers in D.C. about recent reforms in prostitution laws. There’s plenty of hearty accusations lobbed by respondents in the report, but none so disturbing as the one that claims possessing multiple condoms inside a PFZ somehow means you’ll be accepting or in search of solicitations for sex. The problem appears to stem from MPD’s official regulations for policing prostitution, which appears to consist solely of clauses specifying nothing. For instance: officers can issue a warning inside the boundaries of a PFZ for “the conduct of a person being observed, including that such person is behaving in a manner raising a reasonable belief that the person is engaging or is about to engage in prostitution or prostitution-related offenses.” Having a bunch of condoms on your person apparently applies as a violation under that guideline. But what doesn’t qualify?

Sheesh, between this law and many stores keeping their rubbers under lock and key, it’s somewhat amazing that anyone in this town can engage in safe sex.