Boxborough is a city of approximately 6,400 residents, located about 25 miles West of Boston in central Massachusetts. Prostitution and sex trafficking are well documented problems in Boxborough as well as surrounding areas.

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.  Local police have conducted operations designed to deter demand, and to hold individual sex buyers accountable.  For example, a reverse sting in Boxborough in June, 2017 resulted in the arrest of arrest of five people who were charged with paying for sex. The Boxborough Police Department collaborated with area police departments and the Massachusetts State Police High-Risk Victim Unit to combat consumer level demand for what local law enforcement called “modern day slavery.”  The reverse sting took place at the Boxborough Regency Hotel in and involved undercover police engaging with customers through an online advertisement for prostitution.  None of the people arrested lived in Boxborough; they had come from Haverhill, Marlborough, and Shrewsbury to purchase sex. In the 2017 reverse sting operation in Burlington, Acton police partnered with the Massachusetts State Police High-Risk Victim Unit, along with police departments including Boxborough, Concord, Littleton, and Maynard.  Crucial to the operation was the cooperation of a hotel in Boxborough. The state police have a system in place which made it relatively easy to coordinate the sting.  About 20 officers were involved in the operation, some inside the hotel room, others were stationed outside the hotel, and still others were at the police station helping to book those who were arrested. Police placed an ad over the Internet, inviting people to come to the hotel for sex. When the men showed up as planned, after they had communicated online that they were willing to pay for sex, they were arrested.  Aside from regularly monitoring the area for potential human trafficking activity, police said they had planned to continue to conduct stings in local communities.