Andalusia is a city in and the county seat of Covington County, AL, and has a population of approximately 8,800 residents. Instances of prostitution and sex trafficking have been documented in the city and surrounding areas. 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 are homicide and sex trafficking of adults and minors.

In effort to reduce instances of prostitution and sex trafficking in the city, local law enforcement has been known to deploy various demand reduction tactics such as, identity disclosure and loss of employment. For example, in June of 2008, an Andalusia police officer was arrested on felony drug distribution charges and attempting to trade a controlled substance in exchange for sex acts. Investigators with the Covington County Drug Task Force arrested the former officer as part of an two part undercover operation. Part one included investigators giving the former officer an opportunity to witness 3 pounds of marijuana, in which the former officer did not act. The second part of the investigation demonstrated the former officer planned to give a woman Vicodin in exchange for a sexual act. Investigators arrested and charged the former K-9 and patrol officer with felony distribution of a controlled substance, felony complicity to traffic in marijuana and misdemeanor prohibited acts related to prostitution. He was released from the Covington County Jail after he posted a $325,000 bond. As a result of his arrest, the offender was suspended without pay, pending a hearing the following week. He had been with the department since 2007. The officer’s identity and photo were included in reports by local media outlets.

In March, 2014, an Andalusia Police Department sergeant who was arrested on multiple charges in February of 2014, resigned. City officials said the man resigned prior to a personnel hearing that was scheduled. He had been arrested on charges including illegal drugs and promotion of prostitution. The then-government relations manager for the Alabama Beverage Control Board, Dean Argo, said ABC officers and agents with the Alabama Bureau of Investigation assisted with the arrests at the request of the Covington County District Attorney’s Office. According to arrest warrants, the former officer was taken into custody after he arranged a meeting with an ABI informant, for the purpose of providing a controlled substance (Oxy Contin 40mg). Warrants also stated that the offender met the informant for the purpose of soliciting sexual activities in return for the controlled substance. The former officer was found to be in possession of controlled substances without a prescription and a handgun at the time of arrest. Later that week, the Andalusia Mayor and the Interim Police Chief relieved the officer of duty. The former officer was booked into the Covington County Jail on a $165,000 bond. The officer’s identity and photo were included in reports by local media outlets.

In response to a survey conducted in 2021 by the NCOSE team for a National Institute of Justice grant to update and expand Demand Forum (Grant #2020-75-CX-0011), representatives from the Andalusia Police Department reported that they have also implemented the following tactics:  street level reverse stings, other buyer arrests, and vehicle seizures. They also said that they have made “confidential informant buys.”