WASHINGTON (AP) — A human rights group says the D.C. police department and other big-city forces are using condoms to support prostitution charges.

Human Rights Watch has planned a Thursday news conference to discuss a new report focused on police in D.C., New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The report says prostitutes and other sex workers are put at risk when police officers take away their condoms.

The group says prostitutes will be discouraged from carrying the contraceptives with them.

The organization says D.C. Assistant Police Chief Peter Newsham has responded to the report by saying he’s concerned that sex workers would be discouraged from carrying condoms, but that condoms can also serve as supplemental evidence in a prostitution investigation.

The report coincides with next week’s International AIDS Conference in Washington.

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