Last year, the authorities in Brooklyn and Nassau County announced that condoms would not longer be used as evidence of prostitution, which meant that the police should stop seizing them from people they suspected of being sex workers. And soon, New York might become the first to adopt that policy statewide: A bill abolishing the practice of using prophylactics against people passed New York’s Assembly last year, and NBC News reports that “advocates are optimistic the Senate will follow suit soon after it reconvenes this month.”
As a result, the NYPD, which has long opposed the change, said that it is “reviewing” the legislation. Advocates have pointed out that the current protocol is harmful to public health, since it discourages sex workers from carrying multiple condoms for fear of getting in trouble. After all, what’s point of spending all that money to pass out those free, NYC-branded KYNGs if you’re just going to take them away from people later?
