Allegheny County is a county of roughly 1.28 million residents, in western Pennsylvania, and contains Pittsburgh, PA, the second-largest city in the state. The county has experienced a wide array of problems associated with commercial sex, including the homicides of persons being sold in commercial sex (including 12 of which may have been serial homicides in the 1980s), child sex trafficking, child endangerment, and sex trafficking-related production of child sexual abuse materials (CSAM, often referred to in legal codes as “child pornography”). For example, in December, 2013, a federal grand jury added a child sex trafficking count to federal and state charges against a man arrested and accused of sex trafficking a 14-year-old runaway girl. The man had allegedly recruited a minor girl to engage in a commercial sex act and also used a minor girl to produce “child pornography” prosecutors said.

To curtail commercial sex sales in the city, the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office and municipal departments (including the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police) have conducted periodic reverse stings since 1981. Operations typically utilize several undercover female officers, who pose as decoys along thoroughfares identified by residents as “hotbeds” of prostitution activity. As sex buyers attempt to solicit the women, they are apprehended by a backup team. If the man was attempting to solicit sex from a vehicle, he may have his car seized and impounded by police. As a warning to other would-be sex buyers, Pittsburgh police release arrestees’ names and other identifying information to local media outlets. In August 2015, for example, as part of the National Day of John Arrests, Pittsburgh police intercepted 61 sex buyers during a two-week anti-prostitution detail. At least one of the men solicited the police decoy while he had a young child in his car.

In August 2018, Pittsburgh police charged 12 prostituted women and 27 male sex buyers during a nationally coordinated sting operation focused on combatting prostitution and sex trafficking. City police participated in the National Johns Suppression Initiative from July 28 to Aug. 22, during which time law enforcement agencies across 12 states target sex buyers. In its 16^th year, the initiative began in 2011 in Cook County, Ill., and it has grown into a national coalition. City detectives arrested 17 sex buyers in 2017, and January through August 2018 they had arrested 27 buyers, as well as one individual who was charged with promoting prostitution.

In July 2019, a report was released by the Institute to Address Commercial Sexual Exploitation in Pennsylvania at Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law. The report presented county-level data on arrests for purchasing sex in Pennsylvania (the state has separate statutes for sex buyers versus prostituted persons) during calendar year 2018. The report’s data comes from the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, and during 2018 there were 32 arrested sex buyers in Allegheny County that were charged under the statute for purchasing sex (18 Pa.C.S. § 5902(e)). It is important to note that there may have been larger numbers of arrested sex buyers, since some cities and counties may choose to handle such cases by issuing civil citations for violating prostitution ordinances in local courts or magistrate’s offices, rather than charging with a state criminal offenses in district courts.

John School

Following a discussion with residents of the city’s Bluff neighborhood, wherein community members complained that sex buyer’s punishments paled in comparison to those given to prostituted persons, Pittsburgh police created a john school in 1999. The six-hour course has offered first-time offenders the program to arrested sex buyers, and at least 650 sex buyers have successfully completed the course. The program has changed configuration and requirements several times in its 20 year history, and was redesigned in 2013. Updated details about the program will be provided when they are made available to us. To our knowledge, the following is still true of the program. The PRIDE Court John School in Allegheny County was started to provide additional sources of funds for the PRIDE program and to educate sex buyers. The same agency that provides services for individuals in the PRIDE program also offers the John School. The fees paid for the John School are redirected to pay for survivor services. Arrested individuals are offered the chance to complete the program. The case is postponed (charged, but not tried) until the person completes the John School class and returns to court with a certificate of completion. Upon completion of the John School course, the sex buyer’s charges are dropped.