Elgin, IL
Categories:
Tactics Used |
|
---|---|
Auto Seizure | ✓ |
Buyer Arrests | ✓ |
Cameras | ✓ |
Community Service | ✓ |
Employment Loss | ✓ |
Identity Disclosure | ✓ |
IT Based Tactics | ✓ |
John School | ✓ |
Letters | ✓ |
License Suspension | ✓ |
Neighborhood Action | ✓ |
Public Education | ✓ |
Reverse Stings | ✓ |
SOAP Orders | ✓ |
Web Stings | ✓ |
Elgin is a city of roughly 114,000 residents in northern Illinois, located in the greater Chicago metropolitan area in Cook and Kane counties. Prostitution activity has been well-documented in the city and surrounding communities. This activity and the problems and ancillary crimes it generates results in complaints to law enforcement agencies from residents and businesses. Among the more serious crimes associated with the local commercial sex market is sex trafficking.
Consumer level demand provides the revenue stream for all prostitution and sex trafficking, and has therefore been targeted by local law enforcement agencies as a strategy for prevention and response. For example, the city has conducted at least 10 reverse stings, to our knowledge. One of those operations, occurring in October 2011, was coordinated with other cities in an effort called “A National Day of Johns Arrests.” The Cook County Sheriff’s Office has co-coordinated several of these national (or more precisely, multi-city) efforts. The one in the fall of 2011 included police and sheriff’s departments from Cook County, Aurora, Cincinatti, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Newport, VA, resulting in the arrests of 216 sex buyers collectively. A more typical operation occurred in June 2014 and resulted in the arrest of six sex buyers.
The men arrested in Elgin were charged with violating a city ordinance. Vehicles can also be impounded when used in a crime, including buying sex. In the June 2014 operation, all six subjects were arrested and charged with Solicitation of a Sexual Act, a Class A Misdemeanor, and were given court dates in Elgin Branch Court. Their vehicles were towed under the City of Elgin local ordinance for “soliciting a prostitute,” which carries a $1,000 fine.
Key Partners
- Elgin Police Department
- Cook County Sheriff’s Office
Key Sources
National Assessment Survey and Interview
Street-Level Reverse Stings:
- “Police Arrest 9 Men in Prostitution Sting”, Chicago Tribune, October 21 2003.
- “Eleven Men Arrested in Prostitution Sting”, Arlington Heights Daily Herald, August 8 2010.
- “Area Police Agencies Take Part in Nationwide Prostitution Sting”, Chicago Tribune, October 11 2011.
- “Aurora, Elgin Cops, Cook Sheriff Take Part in National ‘John’ Sting”, Arlington Heights Daily Herald, October 12 2011.
- “Elgin Police Arrest 6 Men in Prostitution Sting”, Chicago Tribune, October 13 2011.
- “4 Men Charged with Soliciting Prostitutes on Elgin’s West Side”, Arlington Heights Daily Herald, August 18 2012.
- “Four Arrested in Elgin Prostitution Sting”, CBS/WBBM-TV 2, August 20 2012.
- “Cops: Reverse Prostitution Operation Leads to Six Arrests”, Elgin Courier News, June 10 2014.
- “Cops: Reverse Prostitution Operation Leads to Six Arrests”, WLS-AM 890, June 15 2014.
Auto Seizure:
Proposed Identity Disclosure:
- “Elgin Residents Up in Arms over Prostitution in Neighborhood”, Chicago Tribune, July 11 2008.
- “Elgin Works to Crack Down on Prostitution”, Chicago Tribune, July 25 2008.
Neighborhood Action:
Background on Sex Trafficking and Child Sexual Exploitation in the Area:
- “Reports: Sex for Money Turned into Casino Rape”, CBS/WBBM-TV 2, July 1 2012.
- https://www.lakemchenryscanner.com/human-trafficking-task-force-arrests-4-men-during-prostitution-sting (2020)
- https://www.dailyherald.com/her-work-to-fight-human-trafficking-makes-her-sherman-hospitals-nurse-of-the-year (2022)
Background on Prostitution in the Area:
- “Elgin to Deal with Lingering Evils; Proposed Loitering Law Aimed at Drugs and Prostitutes”, Chicago Tribune, May 22 1991.
- “Woman Accused of Prostitution, Attempted Transmission of HIV”, Chicago Tribune, September 23 1997.
- “Prostitution Suspect Faces HIV Charge”, Chicago Tribune, May 6 1999.
- “Police Reports; Elgin Man Accused of Pandering, Trespassing”, Arlington Heights Daily Herald, September 18 1999.
- “Four People Accused of Running a Prostitution Ring Out…”, Chicago Tribune, February 25 2003.
- “Two Women, Man Charged after Sting at Elgin Hotel”, Arlington Heights Daily Herald, February 15 2008.
- “City Tougher on Prostitution? Council to Look at ‘Enhancing’ Laws Already in Effect”, Elgin Courier News, July 22 2008.
- https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/story.html (2008)
- “Cops Make Prostitution Arrests near Larkin High”, Elgin Courier News, March 13 2009.
- “Six Nabbed in Second Prostitution Sting in Elgin”, Arlington Heights Daily Herald, August 15 2010.
- “3 Elgin Woman Are Charged with Prostitution after Undercover Operation”, Elgin Courier News, June 19 2014.
- https://myfox8.com/woman-accused-of-offering-to-perform-sex-act-on-undercover-officer/ (2015)
- https://shaneylaw.com/articles/cook-county-participates-nationwide-sex-sting/
Documented Violence Against Individuals Engaged in Prostitution in the Area:
- “Police Notes; Prostitution Charges Follow Robbery”, Arlington Heights Daily Herald, June 6 1995.
- “Police: Family Attacks Man in Hotel with Prostitute”, Elgin Courier News, July 25 2010.
- “Cops: Man Tried to Strangle Prostitute after 30-Plus Encounters in 4 Days”, CBS/WBBM-TV 2, May 8 2012.
- “Letters: Elgin Police Should Not Have Charged Woman in Hotel Battery”, Elgin Courier News, May 30 2012.
State | Illinois |
Type | City |
Population | 113911 |
Location |
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