Streetwalker Reports

[Dcnova]

D.C. Council targets cars used in prostitution
By Amy Doolittle
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published February 27, 2006

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The D.C. Council is considering legislation that would allow police to impound vehicles that they think have been used in prostitution.

In addition, the council is mulling a bill that would criminalize the act of prostitution and allow the police chief to declare "prostitution-free zones." Currently, only solicitation for prostitution is a criminal act in the District.

"Prostitution is something we've been dealing with for quite a while," Metropolitan Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey said. "This is just one more attempt at trying to put something in place that will give us an added tool."

In the early 1990s, areas surrounding Franklin Square and Logan Circle in Northwest were prostitution hot spots. Efforts led by council member Jack Evans, Ward 2 Democrat, helped drive those streetwalkers out of his ward and into other jurisdictions outside the District, he said.

Although prostitution remains a nuisance in the Logan Circle area, it is largely confined to certain blocks of Rhode Island and New York avenues in Northeast, where prostitutes tend to work for drug money, officials said.

Under the new legislation, police would be permitted to tow and impound any vehicle found parked outside a brothel or used in any capacity giving police "probable cause." The owner would be forced to pay a fine of $150 plus towing costs to get the vehicle back. It would not allow police to keep the vehicles or sell them at auction.

"At the end of the day, it means that if someone is using their car to procure prostitution services, that car gets taken," said U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Kenneth L. Wainstein. "And for one thing, that person is going to have some explaining to do."

The bill is scheduled for review by the D.C. Council's Judiciary Committee on March 14.

Also scheduled for a March 14 review is the Omnibus Public Safety Act, a hefty 22-title crime bill sponsored by D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams that includes language that would criminalize the act of prostitution.

Under current D.C. law, only the offer to buy or sell sex -- not the act itself -- is illegal.

Solicitation currently is punishable by a $500 fine and up to 90 days in jail for the first offense, a $750 fine and up to 135 days in jail for the second offense and a $1,000 fine and up to 180 days in jail for the third.

Punishment would not change under the new law.

The law would also allow for "prostitution-free zones." Similar to the "drug-free zones" currently used by D.C. police to discourage people who do not live in the neighborhood from hanging around.

The new laws would allow stricter enforcement and easier punishment of those who patronize prostitutes, officials said.

"There needs to be something for people who patronize prostitutes," Chief Ramsey said. "There needs to be something in place that causes them to think twice before they do that."

The D.C. Council enacted a bill in the early 1990s authorizing the police confiscation of vehicles used for prostitution. The vehicles not only could be impounded, but could be seized and sold at auction by police.

That law later was thrown out by a federal appeals court after it was found to be unconstitutional.

Miami, Tampa, Fla., Los Angeles and Minnesota have similar impoundment laws, officials said.

"The point of the legislation is not to fill our jails with prostitutes, but to get them out of our city," said Bob Ellison, a member of Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2F. "It would impound the vehicles of johns, and let them know that prostitution will not be tolerated in the District. And if they do use prostitution in the District, they will have the embarrassment of having to get their vehicle out."

The new legislation is driven, in part, by Logan Circle residents looking to rid their neighborhood of the practice once and for all.

"I'm not under the illusion that I can solve prostitution, but what I'm trying to do is deal with this problem in my ward," Mr. Evans said. "The idea here is not to seize cars and keep them. The idea is to stop prostitution."

[Motorback]

Loop I'm sitting here on the loop typing this on my handy hand held. I just saw a tumble weed blow down the loop. SAD SAD state of affairs. I went down looking in LL neck of the woods where the she's maybe he's and even that was DEAD. Sorry LL...Looks like Rosie again tonight.

[Loop Vet]

that's wild, thanks Hugh. There are two (so far - brief scan) prime locations with cameras on the loop, 15th & K and 16th & K, but the cameras are facing the wrong side of K, the south side when the SW's stay on the north side of K.

Now, there is also a camera set up on 18th & RI Ave NE which is pretty money. Definitely a camera worth monitoring on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Careful though, I've seen a sting in the exact location that camera is monitoring.

[Member #4338]

Damn,

Can we get this in Baltimore. This is awesome.

I would even pay for this service.

You could call it HoCam

Muff Scout

Baltimore PD sure have enough cameras to do the job.

Hey Muff, say CHEESE!!!

Lax

[Muff Scout]

Guys, here is a real find. Click on the link and you can look at selected intersections in the city. You can't tell exactly who the SW might be, but you can see if there's any action.
Imagine, looking up a SW before you even leave the comfort of your couch!

Damn,

Can we get this in Baltimore. This is awesome.

I would even pay for this service.

You could call it HoCam

Muff Scout

[Hugh Jardon]

Guys, here is a real find. Click on the link and you can look at selected intersections in the city. You can't tell exactly who the SW might be, but you can see if there's any action.
Imagine, looking up a SW before you even leave the comfort of your couch!

http://www.trafficland.com/findacame...a.php?city=WAS

If you click on the map away from a "dot" it will zoom in.
Lots o' fun!

[Big White]

After the aforementioned school night out scoping out new venues for talent with Loop Vet and LoveLOS, I decided to drive down L street on the way back to the lair. At 15th, I noticed a tall BSW hanging out. Maybe Special I thought since she hangs around that area sometimes.

Drove the John route, avoiding the No Right Turn signs (remember the game Mousetrap?) until I finally came up 15th a couple minutes later.

Unfortunately, the girl got into a Van right in front of me. Just my luck. As I turned the corner onto L, I got stopped at the light at Vermont, beside the Van. The BSW looks over, gets outta the Van and opens my door and gets in. She's like "Hi, BW, long time." I look at her, and then realize that it is Carmella, Steam Room Skittles ex wife-in-law, and the subject of a prior report. I had heard from the wife in-laws that Carmella went back home, but she told me she just switched pimps.

So, since Carmella left that other monger sitting at the light wondering WTF (sorry about that), I felt obligated to take her to the lair and bang it out. She's getting better, has a young, firm body, and is relatively tight. But, I still rate her as a girl who would be a serendipity fuck. That is for me, someone I would date at the right place, right time, and not someone to seek out.

With the recent warm days, the girls seem to be coming out.

[LoveLOS]

A tall bsw was walking along NY ave across from the gas station on the north side. Further along at the no-name hotel, I spotted a WSW with blonde hair - punk cut - moving out of the parking lot. A return pass noted her climing into a mongermobile near Fernwick.

Major Sting going on Rhode Island Ave. 5-0 everywhere. Careful out there.

[WiseBorn]

watch the alleyways LE usually lurks there watching the action in unmarked cars.

[Trick Williams]

Went out last night(Friday)... Lots of LE around NY Ave by the hotels so I decided to see what was happening around K and L street... I saw mostly BSW's out by the clicks bar... Not a whole lot of selection but the SW's are definetly out there... Didnt pic anyone up cause LE was lurkin around but they wernt lockin anybody up.

[WiseBorn]

You know things are slow when Loopy and B-dubb can't find a SW! There seems to be a concerted effort by LE to move everything indoors. to the strip clubs and CL and other sites. I guess the thinking is out of site out of mind

[Loop Vet]

Johnnie,

Tough time in DC right now. Over the past few months or so LE has made a concentrated effort to clean things up in the downtown areas. The K&L loop in the area you mentioned has been the focus and things aren't what we're used to. On a good night you might find a few, but, as demonstrated below, you could go out and find nothing. It hurts because we're used to seeing 10-20 hotties on a Tuesday. My advice is the later the better. I expect things to pick up again within the next few months, but right now is sad time in DC.

Checks prior posts to see some other, lower-on-the-Ho'tem-Pole, strolls.

[JohnnieBravo]

Hello All:

I am a frequent contributer to this forum. I have not mongered in DC for quite some time. Can anyone give a more complete report on the cruise one should take and also comment with respect to the safety on these areas. When I mongered years ago 15th or 16th and K & L used to be a good place to monger...is this still the case..also what price can I expect to pay? Thanks to you all.

JohnnieBravo

[Big White]

was out last night around 1 in the morning and saw absolutly nothing out there. Not a peep. I don't know if it's the weather, or LE (which I didn't see either) or have they all just migrated to CL for the winter?

Same experience. I was out earlier, about 10pm. Hit Alabama Ave, Minnesota Ave, Sherrif Rd, and up and down Eastern Ave. - nothing. I think it was the weather - very cold. In the past few weeks, I have seen girls working on West Virginia Ave, and Benning Rd.

[WiseBorn]

was out last night around 1 in the morning and saw absolutly nothing out there. Not a peep. I don't know if it's the weather, or LE (which I didn't see either) or have they all just migrated to CL for the winter?