Carrying A Condom As A Woman In NYC Might Get You Locked Up!

Deadly Weapon? Carrying A Condom As A Woman In NYC Might Get You Locked Up!

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Trying not to get arrested, ladies? Well next time you go out in New York City, just make sure you don't wear a short skirt and leave the condoms at home.

Monica Gonzalez is a nurse and a grandmother. In 2008, Officer Sean Spencer arrested her for prostitution while she was on the way to the ER with an asthma attack. The condom he found on her turned out to be imaginary. Gonzalez sued the city after the charges were dropped. But if the condom were real, why should she have even been arrested at all?
Arrest is always violent. The NYPD may or may not break your ribs, but the process of arrest in America is still a man tying your hands behind your back at gunpoint and locking you in a cage. Holding cells are #-encrusted boxes, often too crowded to sit down. Police can leave you there for three days; long enough to lose your job. If this seems obvious, I say it because the polite middle classes trivialize arrest. They talk about "keeping people off the streets." They don't realize that the constant threat of arrest is traumatic, unless it happens to them or their kids.

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The woman asked Officer Hill why he was stopping her.

She wore jean shorts and a tight red shirt and had stood outdoors for half an hour.

She'd had a conversation with a passing man. When Officer Hill searched her bag, he found a condom and $1.25. ]He arrested her for -loitering for the purpose of prostitution-.

On the supporting deposition, he filled in the blanks for what she was wearing and how many condoms she had.

When I read over the deposition in the PROS Network's Public Health Crisis (PDF), a study of how the NYPD arrests folks for carrying condoms, I thought of all the tight shirts I'd worn while idling outside on delicious spring days. I thought, She sounds like me. She sounds like my friends.

The NYPD will arrest you for carrying condoms, but that depends entirely on who you are. If you're a middle-class white girl like me, you're probably safe. But say you're a sex worker or a queer kid kicked out of your home. Say you're a trans woman out for dinner with your boyfriend. Maybe you've been arrested as a sex worker before. Maybe some quota-filling cop thinks you look like a whore.

Then you're not safe at all

There are two types of prostitution arrests. For "prostitution," the officer has to witness you making an offer, but "loitering for the purposes of engaging in a prostitution offense" requires only circumstantial evidence. On the supporting depositions, officers answer a checklist. Were you standing in an area known for prostitution? According to Karina Claudio, a lead organizer at the community group Make the Road, these areas can be anywhere. Were you dressed provocatively? Did you speak to a guy? Were you standing next to someone who has been arrested for prostitution? Were you carrying condoms?
.

This is ridiculous. How can a condom be evidence of prostitution? NYC seems like such a horrible place to live for the "lower classes". I can't see how the stop and frisk policy is constitutional. How does it not violate the 4rth amendment?

Not to mention the obvious racial prfiling and percentage of innocent people being harassed via the policy.

An analysis by the NYCLU revealed that innocent New Yorkers have been subjected to police stops and street interrogations more than 4 million times since 2002, and that black and Latino communities continue to be the overwhelming target of these tactics. Nearly nine out of 10 stopped-and-frisked New Yorkers have been completely innocent, according to the NYPD’s own reports.

www.nyclu.org...

Could you imagine being harassed, stopped, frisked for NO reason other than walking around your neighborhood? I wouldn't even want to go outside. Especially since cops like to murder people for no reason, can arrest you for not having an ID on you, carrying condoms, and the plethora of other non-victimless crimes. All of this while the crimes on wallstreet are ignored.

Anyways prostitution shouldn't even be illegal. It should be regulated like any other industry. Do they want these sex workers to spread even more STDs?

globalgrind.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

OP, don't you understand? You must use the official Government policy of abortion to rid yourself of unwanted pregnancy. Then, once you murder your unborn child, nobody cares what diseases you pick up... eugenics is alive and well.

And prostitution?! How dare you OP?! You know Government can't tax that!

Land of the free indeed.

I have no respect for the police or their paymasters and things like this just reinforce my opinion.

Wether prostitution is illegal or not is hardly the issue. Armed robbery is illegal too, but you dont get stopped and searched on suspicion of that, unless you happen to be wearing a balaclava, carrying a shotgun, or loitering outside a bank or store, looking nervous and jumpy, while making a diagram of the location of nearby security cameras.

Shouldnt all sexually active people carry a condom around with them in this day and age? Isnt that the biologically and socially responsible thing to do, wether you get paid for your time or not? Carrying protection should not be grounds for arrest. If the womans purse or bag had also contained six tablets of double strength viagra, a set of fluffy handcuffs and a ball gag I MIGHT be tempted to side with the officer, but there again, peoples persuasions are thier own business unless they violate the law, so whats the deal here? All people who like having intercourse may be arrested at some point?

I think this is a bit of a joke really, and that figure of several MILLION stop and searches on innocent people? Crazy! Its as if they dont teach policepersons anything at the academies! I know a few police here in England, and many of them, despite the more centralised controls exerted on them, operate mostly by instinct, as well as thier awareness of the limitations of thier job. If my local bobbies arrested people based on what they look like, then I would have been banged up years ago for looking like a terrorist, a south american drug kingpin, a town looting, woman ravishing, skull splitting viking, and Charles Manson when he was younger (although, and I dont want to blow my own trumpet here,but I reckon Im a fair sight better looking than ole Charlie)!

This appearance based policing has to stop dead, today, now. Its NEVER worked properly, always infringed on the rights of those it effects, and wastes time that ought to be spend catching actual thugs, on filling out the paperwork and fighting the legal battle resulting from a false arrest. What utter nonsense.

reply to post by TrueBrit


I don't like them. It makes me itch.

reply to post by TrueBrit

I think this is a bit of a joke really, and that figure of several MILLION stop and searches on innocent people? Crazy!

Stop and frisks are a vast violation of rights....especially since the COPs are the actual thugs most of the time. People should be able to leave their house without being frisked and harassed by the cops 20 times a year.
[vid removed]

Exclusive audio obtained by The Nation of a stop-and-frisk carried out by the New York Police Department freshly reveals the discriminatory and unprofessional way in which this controversial policy is being implemented on the city’s streets.

On June 3, 2011, three plainclothes New York City Police officers stopped a Harlem teenager named Alvin and two of the officers questioned and frisked him while the third remained in their unmarked car. Alvin secretly captured the interaction on his cell phone, and the resulting audio is one of the only known recordings of stop-and-frisk in action.

In the course of the two-minute recording, the officers give no legally valid reason for the stop, use racially charged language and threaten Alvin with violence. Early in the stop, one of the officers asks, “You want me to smack you?” When Alvin asks why he is being threatened with arrest, the other officer responds, “For being a #ing mutt.” Later in the stop, while holding Alvin’s arm behind his back, the first officer says, “Dude, I’m gonna break your #in’ arm, then I’m gonna punch you in the #in’ face.”

www.thenation.com...

In NYC they can also arrest you for having a soft drink that is too large, listening to your iPod turned up too loud, smoking anywhere, eating food with trans-fat, standing around (also known as "Waiting"), being a tax-driver suspected of transporting a prostitute, being homeless, etc... They are also the great city that introduced stop-and-frisk laws that allow the police to violate your 4th Amendment rights without cause. They've also seen fit to gut the 2nd Amendment as well.

NYC is a cesspool!

reply to post by WaterBottle


That there... is absolutely ridiculous.

We have stop and searches here as well, but the numbers involved in the NYPD jurisdiction appear to be greater than in my whole COUNTRY! Good lord.

What crock of crap! There ought to be an outcry over this !

I think this is ridiculous. This is Abuse of power in my opinion. This is another way to get more tax payers money into the system.
However, suspicious behavior will lead to assumptions.

The officer in this specific situation obviously jumped the gun. And the implications of this are unsettling, to say the least. However, I don't think things are really so bad; I don't live in NYC, but being stopped by police is unpleasant at worst, inconvenient at best.

reply to post by Captain Reynolds


If you have read the thread carefully, and taken in all the links and video in it, you would know that the current stop and frisk policy has resulted in officers victimising individuals by searching them several times within a single shift rotation, just to make up the numbers. This is not a mere unplesantness. This is absolutely inappropriate, involves racial and social profiling, and nine out of ten times is performed upon totally innocent people.

I wonder, if you were stopped by police three times inside of a walk down one city block, some of whom become aggressive when you reasonably point out your previous interactions with the police force less than an hour earlier, wether you think you would consider it merely unplesant.

I was once stopped when walking along the seafront. I wasnt searched, but a police car pulled alongside me, and the officer within asked me if my name was *insert unpronouncable name in arabic*, just because I have a beard and was wearing a bandana. This happened in the UK, and just the once. As it happens, I am a celt, with history that traces back hundreds of years in this country. Now, when I explained that, he showed me a picture of a fellow who aside from the mentioned features looked nothing like me, and said "we thought you were this bloke". The sheet his picture was on, named him as one of the most wanted terror suspects. This was some years ago now, and I have never had trouble since.

But the point stands I think. Yes it took five minuites to sort out, and there was no search, no violence, no aggression. It was merely unplesant. But where THIS situation is concerned, if this happened to me, constantly, I would be up in arms, I would be the gum disease in the mouth of the governor of the state of New York, the mosquito on the arm of its Mayor, and the inoperable growth in the prostate of the Chief of Police. I would hound those people with my complaint until they offed themselves over it. I would make it impossible for them to leave thier houses, or offices without seeing my face, or seeing a protest banner. I would organise an association of people in the same situation and march about the place peacefully, but demanding justice.

Originally posted by kozmo
In NYC they can also arrest you for having a soft drink that is too large, listening to your iPod turned up too loud, smoking anywhere, eating food with trans-fat, standing around (also known as "Waiting"), being a tax-driver suspected of transporting a prostitute, being homeless, etc... They are also the great city that introduced stop-and-frisk laws that allow the police to violate your 4th Amendment rights without cause. They've also seen fit to gut the 2nd Amendment as well.

NYC is a cesspool!

Yep.
Hard to believe that we live in....

'The Land of the Free'.

reply to post by WaterBottle

Thanks for posting this.
Every day we see more examples of our loss of liberty and a police state that has no problems with violating the Constitution.

Originally posted by Captain Reynolds
The officer in this specific situation obviously jumped the gun. And the implications of this are unsettling, to say the least. However, I don't think things are really so bad; I don't live in NYC, but being stopped by police is unpleasant at worst, inconvenient at best.

DId you not read the thread? or just choose to ignore all of its contents?

Getting stopped and frisked by the police in NYC is not "unpleasant at worst". It can get you arrested, put in jail for days, loose your job, all for carrying a condom if you are a female or transgender male. Cops even lie and make false arrests to fulfill their quotas. It can very easily ruin a persons life.

Not to mention it's a violation of the 4rth amendment. Plus cops like to assault, kill, harass, and arrest people for victimless crimes on a daily basis nationwide.They are there to defend the status quo, not protect.

NYC is an interesting mix of hyper-fascism and neo-liberalism.

On one block cops are busting the heads of black people for being black and a mile away there's a gay pride rally going on with all the fanfare and pomp one would expect.

I dont really get how the city can rationalize the two but it does.

It's like 1962 crashed head on with 1997.

reply to post by WaterBottle


Oh this is terrible news. the illigal sex market will be feeling the effects of this for sure. What i'm worried about is the grown men out there with brain damage what will spend more time at the elementary if they cant play GTA with a hooker in RL. Does the government not think this through? I mean. Child abuse is already rampant in the US. Maybe if beer wasn't so cheap there. No offense but some people just shouldn't drink. The harm they cause can carry on from generation to generation. IV heard to many drunk dad stories and seen a few myself. But in all ceriallness I think this will start a raging pedophile pandemic if hookers are afraid of being hassled for condoms -_-

Originally posted by kozmo
In NYC they can also arrest you for having a soft drink that is too large, listening to your iPod turned up too loud, smoking anywhere, eating food with trans-fat, standing around (also known as "Waiting"), being a tax-driver suspected of transporting a prostitute, being homeless, etc... They are also the great city that introduced stop-and-frisk laws that allow the police to violate your 4th Amendment rights without cause. They've also seen fit to gut the 2nd Amendment as well.

NYC is a cesspool!

bit of an exaggeration there.

the soft drink nonsense is limiting the size of drinks that can be sold. you want to buy a 2 liter bottle and chug it, nobody will arrest you.

Please show me the law that states that wearing headphones with music playing too loud can get you arrested or even a ticket.

you can smoke everywhere, other than public parks and, if the police do act on it, you get a fine, not arrested. That being said, I walk home every day thru times square which is a designated "park" and people are smoking all over the place, talking to cops while smoking etc. Never once have I seen a ticket being written. More important, real parks, like Central Park, Madison Square etc are, in theory, going to have fewer butts lying on the ground as a result of this but, still, the cops aren't arresting anyone for it. Tickets, maybe. Arresting, never.

Eating foods with transfats is a crime? Sellling food with trans-fats might be something they want to crack down on but, honestly, do you think the police have the ability to determine what has trans-fats in food? No. They don't and they don't arrest anyone for eating whatever they want.

Standing around does not get you arrested. People do it all the time. If you are standing around in an area known for a high volume of drug vendors or prostitutes, you might be questioned but, honestly, if you aren't selling drugs or yourself (or looking to buy), why would you stand around in an area known for these kinds of crimes?

Transporting prositutes is a crime, if you know you are doing it and willingly participate in the flesh trade. A driver who is hired to take person from point a to point b is not going to be arrested unless he isn't really a tax driver and, instead, is being hired out as a driver for the purpose of transporting prostitutes to and from their johns.

Being homeless - they're all over the place and they are, usually, left alone unless it is brutally cold or the homeless person is creating trouble for people. I will remind you that we recently had a story in the news about a cop who saw a shoeless homeless man on the street on a sub zero night. The cop went and purchased shoes for the man. He didn't arrest the guy. He helped him because, believe it or not, cops do good things from time to time.

Stop and frisk laws can, at times, be a necessary evil. The real issue here is that it goes hand in hand with racial profiling. It's a horrible thing for anyone to be suspected of something bad simply because they fit a profile but there have been cases where one community that was racially profiled, upon seeing another group suffering the same fate, has admitted the rationale behind it. Years ago there was a rash of car jackings near miami international airport. Some one or some people were car jacking tourists on the ramps leading to and from the airport. There were several murders and plenty of thefts. The police started stopping anyone that fit the description of the perpetrators, as told by the victims. Young black men were targeted at checkpoints and, rightfully, the community was unhappy with it. Activists rushed to the area to protest this unfair practice. The story was big enough that 60 minutes did a piece on it. The crimes decreased and the story vanished from the press. Several years later, 9/11 happened and, suddenly, arab men were being targeted at airports for additional searches. People were reporting every tiny oddity they saw and men were being asked to take different flights, simply for looking like they were from the middle east. 60 minutes did a story about the racial profiling and they went back and interviewed many of the african american men and women who had appeared in their racial profiling story years earlier. Each one had the same reaction - the arab looking men should be under a microscope and, yes, we understand now why racial profiling is done. It isn't right but it happens everywhere. NYC is not alone in this and, honestly, I would venture a guess that, post 9/11, there was more racial profiling outside of NYC than anywhere else and that profiling resulted in more additional searches to innocent men.

The gun laws are a poor reaction to a horrible event that occurred in our backyard.

reply to post by Crakeur

Stop and frisk laws can, at times, be a necessary evil. The real issue here is that it goes hand in hand with racial profiling. It's a horrible thing for anyone to be suspected of something bad simply because they fit a profile but there have been cases where one community that was racially profiled, upon seeing another group suffering the same fate, has admitted the rationale behind it.

Nope. It's a violation of the 4rth amendment. And the majority of the people that are frisked are innocent. I do not want to live in a world where if someone walks down a street a cop can stop me, frisk me, and search any belongings I am carrying for absolutely no reason at all.

An analysis by the NYCLU revealed that innocent New Yorkers have been subjected to police stops and street interrogations more than 4 million times since 2002, and that black and Latino communities continue to be the overwhelming target of these tactics. Nearly nine out of 10 stopped-and-frisked New Yorkers have been completely innocent, according to the NYPD’s own reports.

www.nyclu.org...

“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” - Benjamin Franklin

The gun laws are a poor reaction to a horrible event that occurred in our backyard.

Well since YOU believe in racial profiling you should believe that all white males should be stopped and screened for mental illnesses before purchasing fire arms. They are the ones committing all these mass shootings that sparked the reaction.

reply to post by WaterBottle


you live here? you've seen them stop and frisk?

I've lived here my whole life. I have never once seen them stop anyone. I've seen bag check stations in subways and never once have I seen them stop anyone to check a bag.

there's more searching and bag checking at sporting events than there is on the streets of ny