Harbor City is a community of approximately 36,000 residents, located within the city of Los Angeles, near Lomita and Wilmington, in Los Angeles County, CA. In an effort to reduce prostitution activity, local law enforcement has conducted street-level reverse stings in the community since at least 1993, if not earlier. The first known reverse sting in 1993 resulted in the arrest of 23 male sex buyers. Arrests were made after the men had attempted to solicit sex acts from undercover female officers. The operation was initiated as a result of numerous residential complaints concerning an increase in prostitution and related activity in the area. More recently, in November of 2010, officers from the Los Angeles Police Department’s Harbor Community Policing Station conducted a street-level reverse sting using an undercover female officer as a decoy. The operation resulted in the arrest of seven male sex buyers. Their identities were not released to the public.

In addition to reverse sting operations, sex buyers arrested in Harbor City have been known to have the option of participating in a ‘prostitution diversion program’ (John School) to have their cases dismissed. This option is typically offered to first time offenders and is in conjunction with other probationary terms such as submitting an HIV test or completing community service hours.