Brooklyn a hotbed for prostitution after ‘Walking While Trans’ law repealed: report

It signaled pimps they have freedom to work in the open.

In an exclusive for the NY Post, reporters discovered that prostitution is on the rise in the Big Apple. The opening of the piece describes the “cycle” of a sex worker: going from car to car to find a customer, hopping in and driving off to do deeds, and being dropped off back to the street corner to do it all over again.

It’s strongly suggested multiple times that the women and girls engaging in sex for money were forced into it. The Post’s report has countless pictures of women at night on the job.

The police response when they arrive in the area is depicted as underwhelming. “When the police ride through — in both marked and unmarked cars — business mostly carries on without interruption. While cruising down the block one night, a cop flashed the lights of their unmarked car in an apparent attempt at deterrence but took no other action.”

The Post outlines the moves by Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez in dismissing prostitution warrants and cases. 262 prostitution-related warrants in January, and Gonzalez convinced a judge to dismiss 857 prostitution cases in late March.

Brooklyn made 39 prostitution related arrests in 2018 but made zero by 2020. A similar trend shows a pattern of leniency being given to the “pimps” in these circumstances, too.

The outlet interviewed internal NYPD sources for their take on the state of affairs. They observe that pimps feel comfortable working out in the open now.

“Ironically, the DAs are doing the pimps a favor,” one said. “If they really cared about the girls, they would be out there at 3 in the morning offering them assistance instead of sleeping in their air-conditioned homes.”

District Attorneys in Manhattan and Queens made similar moves to throw out cases as Brooklyn.

Gonzalez was encouraged when New York Governor Andrew Cuomo repealed something dubbed the “Walking While Trans” law back in February. This 1976 part of the state penal code allowed cops to arrest people who appeared “to be loitering for the purpose of prostitution.”

Cuomo revoked it amidst a fervor that it unfairly targeted “women, minorities and transgender people.”

Despite what the NY Post is reporting, a spokesperson for the Brooklyn DA’s office claimed they’re still tough on sex trafficking.

“Since the start of this year our office declined to prosecute a grand total of three prostitution-related arrests. We have a Sex Trafficking Unit that vigorously prosecutes pimps and traffickers while working with service providers to get assistance to victims of trafficking.”