Subtitle 27 – Loitering - Prostitution

The term “assignation” shall be construed to include:

The term “lewdness” shall be construed to mean any unnatural sexual practice.

The term “prostitution” shall be construed to mean the offering or receiving of the body for sexual intercourse for hire.

“Public place” means:

loitering for the purpose of prostitution, lewdness, or assignation, patronizing, or promoting same is disruptive of the public peace in that certain persons engaged in such conduct in public places harass and interfere with the use and enjoyment by other persons of such public places thereby constituting a danger to the public health and safety; and

in recent years, the incidence of such conduct in public places has increased significantly in that persons aggressively engaging in promoting, patronizing, or soliciting for the purposes of prostitution, lewdness, or assignation have, by their course of conduct in public places, caused citizens who venture into such public places to be the unwilling victims of repeated harassment, interference, and assault upon their individual privacy, as a result of which such public places have become unsafe and the ordinary community and commercial life of certain neighborhoods has been disrupted and has deteriorated.

In addition to any other civil or criminal remedy or enforcement procedure, this subtitle may be enforced by issuance of a civil citation under City Code <cite data-path="|1">Article 1</cite>, Subtitle 41 {“Civil Citations”}.

The issuance of a civil citation to enforce this subtitle does not preclude pursuing any other civil or criminal remedy or enforcement action authorized by law.

The Police Commissioner may establish, alter, recertify, or terminate the certification of prostitution-free zones from time to time.

Provided, however, that any certification will expire 3 months after the date of its certification unless recertified for an additional 3 months prior to expiration.

The Commissioner may certify or recertify a prostitution-free zone after the two 3-month periods provided herein if:

arrests or other statistical criteria for reporting crime which are accepted and relied upon by law enforcement agencies and which indicate a disproportionately high occurrence of prostitution in the proposed prostitution-free zone;

reliable, objective, and verifiable information which indicates that prostitution is occurring in the proposed prostitution-free zone; and

any other verifiable information acceptable by law enforcement agencies that indicates to the Police Commissioner that the health or safety of the residents that live in or near the proposed prostitution-free zone is endangered by the activity of prostitution.

Prior to certifying or recertifying a prostitution-free zone, the Police Commissioner shall:

The Commissioner shall disseminate to all police enforcement personnel a current list of certified prostitution-free zones.

In addition to any other civil or criminal remedy or enforcement procedure, this subtitle may be enforced by issuance of a civil citation under City Code <cite data-path="|1">Article 1</cite>, Subtitle 41 {“Civil Citations”}.

The issuance of a civil citation to enforce this subtitle does not preclude pursuing any other civil or criminal remedy or enforcement action authorized by law.