A New Orleans City Council committee voted on Monday (April 28) to advance an ordinance that protects sex workers from prosecution and arrest when reporting a crime and to prevent admittance of condom possession as evidence for prostitution.
All four councilmembers present at Monday’s joint meeting of the Governmental Affairs and Community Development committees — Helena Moreno, J.P. Morrell, Lesli Harris and Freddie King — voted to recommend the ordinance to the full council for final passage.
The ordinance, which was introduced by Councilmembers Lesli Harris and Helena Moreno, was added to the council’s consent agenda for its May 8 regular meeting, where it is expected to pass. (Consent agenda items typically pass without debate.)
During Monday’s hearing, Moreno said the ordinance was drafted in consultation with the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office and the New Orleans Police Department. Neither agency responded to Verite News’ requests for comment on the proposal.
The ordinance would codify into city law an internal NOPD policy meant to encourage victims of violent crimes to cooperate with police investigations. Under the policy, victims and witnesses that police encounter during a criminal investigation cannot be arrested for sex work-related violations.
Prostitution arrests have already drastically decreased in the city over the past several years. But NOPD enforcement priorities can be changed more easily than laws. Natalie Rupp, the executive director of the Trans Income Project, said the ordinance will protect the trans and sex worker community over the long term.
“Currently, if you are a sex worker who is working and you say, ‘I was raped’ or ‘I was robbed,’ and you just try to describe the scenario, you can be arrested for prostitution,” Rupp said before the committee meeting.
The Trans Income Project held a series of community meetings last year with trans people. Rupp said attendees expressed deep concern about being profiled for being trans and arrested for prostitution. A large share of trans women report having worked in the sex industry at some point in their lives, making the ordinance a “gay-specific issue,” said Rupp.
Those worries prompted the push for the proposed ordinance. Rupp said sex workers have no access to protective services if crimes are committed against them, an issue the ordinance would help alleviate.
“It is our firm belief that regardless of what you do for a living, you deserve the right to report a crime that occurred to you,” Rupp said. “We don’t say that because you’re a barista and you handed someone coffee, well, then, ‘What did you expect? Of course, they beat you up and stole your money.’ Like that is just a no-brainer.”
But if it passes, the law would only apply to the NOPD.
As a municipal law, the proposal would carry no authority over other law enforcement agencies operating in the city under the state’s jurisdiction. That includes Troop NOLA, the permanent contingent of Louisiana State Police troopers deployed to New Orleans last year under orders from Gov. Jeff Landry — with enthusiastic support from New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell.
Moreno, the City Council’s Vice President and a likely frontrunner in this fall’s mayoral election, did not respond to questions about how sex workers would be affected by the State Police presence in the city.
“I only have authority over local government,” Moreno wrote. “The ordinance as written can provide more clarity on how the state allows local municipalities discretion to handle certain offenses.”
Ordinance does not cover Troop NOLA
It’s not clear how Troop NOLA will respond to the ordinance should it pass. Asked whether Troop NOLA would follow the municipal code when policing in the city, State Police spokesperson Kate Stegall only noted that the troop follows only state law.
“Louisiana State Troopers are responsible for enforcing state laws across the state,” Stegall wrote in an email. “Local municipal ordinances are enforced by the police department within that specific jurisdiction.”
As Verite News reported last October, there is no formal public agreement between city and state governments about how Troop NOLA should be deployed.
Troop NOLA’s actions have sometimes been opposed to directives of local leadership, most notably in the days leading up to a series of Taylor Swift concerts at the Superdome last October, when state troopers abruptly cleared a number of homeless encampments over the objections of the city government. Troop NOLA has also come under fire for repeatedly engaging in high-speed chases for minor crimes, nonviolent crimes; a tactic NOPD can only use to pursue violent suspects under a long-running federal consent decree and departmental policy.
Still, city leaders such as Cantrell and NOPD Chief Anne Kirkpatrick have largely embraced the state’s policing efforts in the city.
And although the ordinance would prevent sex workers from being prosecuted by the local government, those arrested by the state will also be prosecuted by the state under state law. Last year, Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams inked an agreement with state Attorney General Liz Murrill that allows the Attorney General’s Office to prosecute people arrested in New Orleans by State Police troopers.
Neither Williams’ nor Murill’s offices responded to requests for comment on the proposed ordinance.
Under Louisiana state law, sex workers found guilty of prostitution could face fines and jail time. If someone has prior convictions, they can be imprisoned for at least four years and be fined between $500 to $4,000.
Preserving a ‘right to safe sex’
Attorney Lauren Hall, an attorney and co-founder of Below Sea Level Aid, drafted the language of the ordinance and said she wants to see a similar one passed at the state level, which would then protect sex workers across Louisiana.
“We’re not legalizing prostitution,” Hall said. “We’re just protecting sex workers who are victims of crimes, who seek medical treatment and who go to the police for help. It prevents them from being arrested based on prostitution, and it prevents them from being prosecuted based on this alone.”
The ordinance also includes what Hall called “a right to safe sex,” which means that police cannot use condoms as evidence for prostitution. A Human Rights Watch survey from 2013 found that 26% of sex workers in New Orleans who were interviewed were harassed by police for carrying condoms and that more than half of them were trans women. More than 50 percent of respondents said they carried fewer condoms in fear of getting in trouble with police.
Corinne Green, a board member of the Trans Income Project who worked on the ordinance, said community members commonly brought up fear of interacting with law enforcement in meetings. Green said that trans people are also afraid of being profiled as sex workers.
“Just simple possession of condoms as evidence of prostitution was a huge issue and really impacted people’s willingness to interact with law enforcement and also their experiences when they did,” Green said.
The ordinance drew inspiration from Louisiana’s revamped “Good Samaritan Law,” which protects people experiencing drug-related overdoses from arrest, prosecution and penalization, Green said.
Dozens of community members and organizers spoke in favor of the ordinance during public comment.
“Everyone has the right to protect themselves,” said Deon Haywood, the executive director of the nonprofit women’s rights group Women with a Vision, during public comment at the committee meeting. She has worked on behalf of sex workers for more than 35 years. “Every single person has a right to carry what they need to, and it should not be at the police discretion because someone is carrying condoms.”