According to the New York Post, an internal memo obtained by the newspaper showed that the New York Police Department was notified on February 3 that they could no longer arrest people who wandered on the street for prostitution.
According to CNN, New York Governor Cuomo signed a bill on the 2nd to repeal the Walking While Trans, which began in 1976, which allows police to search and obstruct prostitutes suspected of roaming on the street.
End, but that ultimately leads to discrimination by law enforcement against people of color.
New York State Assemblyman Brad Hoylman believes that the 1976 law “has led to arbitrary and discriminatory law enforcement, targeting women from marginalized groups who are at high risk of sex trafficking and other exploitation and abuse”.
The law allows police to “stop and search transgender women of color and other marginalized groups, even if they’re just walking on the streets,” he said.
The New York Post reported that the New York Police Department no longer acted in accordance with the law the day after the law was cancelled.
In the future, if someone beckons to passers-by or their vehicles on the street, stops passers-by or their vehicles, and may be for the purpose of prostitution, the police cannot arrest them on this separate ground.
However, all the provisions of the New York Penal Code on combating prostitution are still in force.
