Stamford is a city of approximately 136,000 residents, located in Fairfield County, Connecticut. Prostitution and sex trafficking activity have been well-documented in the city and surrounding communities. This activity and the problems and ancillary crimes it generates result in complaints to law enforcement agencies from residents and businesses. Among the more serious problems associated with commercial sex in the area are child sex trafficking. For example, in February 2014, nine suspects were arrested and four teenagers were rescued in an underage prostitution sting in Stamford, in a joint operation called “Recovered Innocence.” The sting was part of a larger FBI operation to crack down on child sex trafficking in the area. Two men were charged with promoting prostitution and risk of injury to a minor, and four underage girls — a 14-year-old, a 16-year-old, and two 17-year-olds — were all taken to local hospitals for evaluations under FBI supervision, and the Department of Children and Families was notified.

To combat prostitution and sex trafficking in the city, local law enforcement agencies have targeted consumer-level demand for prostitution, which provides the revenue stream driving all commercial sex and trafficking. While police generally target people in prostitution, sex buyers have also been arrested, particularly in stings in which decoys pose as minors. Patronizing a Prostitute is illegal under C.G.S. § 53a-83, a misdemeanor charge punishable by up to one year in jail and that forbids a person from paying a fee to another person to have someone engage in sexual conduct with him or any other party. Men’s names may be publicized in the print and online police blotter, and vehicles used in the act of soliciting prostitution may be seized and impounded.