Grand Forks, the county seat of Grand Forks County, is a city of about 57,000 residents in eastern North Dakota. Prostitution and sex trafficking have been known to occur in the city and surrounding areas dating back to the late 1800s when the railroads were being built. Prostitution increased a great deal with North Dakota’s oil and gas boom between 2011-2015 and continues to be an active problem. Among the more serious problems associated with the commercial sex market is child sex trafficking. For example, in 2012, three people were faced with human trafficking-related charges after they trafficked a 17-year-old girl into prostitution and advertised her online with pictures they had taken.

Local efforts to address these problems include targeting consumer-level demand for commercial sex. For example, in January 2013, the Grand Forks Police Department (GFPD) conducted its first reverse sting operation. After responding to a decoy online ad, four men were arrested for “hiring an individual to engage in sexual activity,” a Class B Misdemeanor in North Dakota. The maximum penalty is 30 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Similar operations occurred in April 2014 and February 2015, resulting in the arrests of 13 sex buyers. In the days following the operations, their identities were released to the public. One male sex buyer arrested in the February 2015 reversal was charged with “human trafficking with a victim under the age of 18, a Class AA felony.” The offender allegedly attempted to purchase sex from an undercover officer who he believed to be an underage girl. In September 2015, the Grand Forks Herald said the man had “pleaded guilty to corruption or solicitation of minors, a Class A misdemeanor,” and had been sentenced to “two months in jail, though the court allowed him to serve the time on electronic home monitoring, followed by one and a half years of probation.” He was also reportedly ordered to complete community service.

The GFPD conducted another sting in 2017. Three sex buyers were arrested and charged with soliciting sex from an individual. Police said they used “internet resources” to run this operation but shared no other details.

The GFPD has been known to collaborate with other law enforcement agencies. In 2017, the GFPD arrested one man for patronizing a minor for commercial sexual activity. The Fargo Police Department arrested eight men during this same sting. In August 2021,  three men were arrested following a human trafficking operation targeting prostitution. The GFPD partnered with the Dickinson Police Department, the North Dakota BCI, and Homeland Security Investigations for this operation.