The Appeal reviewed Allegheny County police records from 2016 and 2017 and found 260 prostitution cases, about 52 percent, where police also charged someone with possessing an instrument of crime. Other offenses can carry an instrument-of-crime charge as well, but that happens far less frequently; about 5 percent of burglary cases in 2016 and 2017 carried the added charge, as did just over 1 percent of simple drug possession cases.
“In Allegheny County, People Arrested With Cell Phones Can Be Charged With ‘Possessing Instruments of Crime’” by Melissa Gira Grant for The Appeal