Early on Tuesday morning, a local resident spied a woman he believed to be a sex worker at the corner of Rhode Island and South Dakota Ave. NE. "As I was leaving for work about 6:30am, I saw what appeared to be a prostitute on the southeast sidewalk," the resident wrote into a D.C. police listserv. "I hope nothing has changed to allow this behavior to continue as it was has been very bad in the past. Please continue to patrol Rhode Island to halt this illlegal and publically, unacceptable activity."

So D.C. police jumped to action to remedy of the problem of . . . this resident having to see another sex worker. For the next five days, at least. "It is getting hot out," replied 5th District Lt. Corrine Hughes. "However we will get on top of this." According to 5th District Commander Andy Solberg, D.C. police have now estbalished two temporary "prostitution-free zones" in Northeast Washington targeted at keeping sex workers off neighborhood streets.

One zone is centered at West Virginia Ave. and Mt. Olivet St. NE; the other is centered at 9th St. and Hamlin St. NE. The zones went into effect yesterday evening and will last through the weekend.

D.C.'s prostitution-free zone laws allow police to identify "areas where the health or safety of residents is endangered" by prostitution and enforce stricter anti-prostitution laws there for up to 10 days at a time. Under the law, police can force groups of "two or more people" to disperse and vacate the area if they are "behaving in a manner raising a reasonable belief that the person is engaging or is about to engage in prostitution or prostitution-related offenses." That behavior can include "repeatedly beckoning to, stopping, attempting to stop, or attempting to engage passers-by in conversation"; "stopping or attempting to stop motor vehicles"; or "repeatedly interfering with the free passage of other persons" for the purpose of prostitution.

The law theoretically prohibits police from identifying prostitution-related behavior on the basis of "stereotypes or 'profiles'"; instead, police must rely upon "clearly articulated" signs of sex work. That said, trans women in particular claim to have been profiled by police under these laws; neighborhood objections to visible sex work often center on what women should and shouldn't be wearing outside the house. And as the inspiration for these two new zones demonstrates, the "health or safety" endangerment burden can be satisfied by a listserv contributor who happened to glance at someone he thought "appeared to be a prostitute." Individuals targeted in these zones "will be warned to disperse in a reasonable time frame"; if they do not, they face arrest "without a second warning."

Possible loopholes: The law still allows residents to convene on the streets for "acceptable group activities." They include "distributing campaign literature" and "discussing political or religious topics."