Brentwood is a city of approximately 45,000 residents, located in the suburbs of Nashville in Williamson County, Tennessee, near Franklin. Cases of sex trafficking and prostitution have been reported in the community for years. To curtail local prostitution and sex trafficking, and the additional crimes they generate, the Brentwood Police Department has adopted a strategy that includes demand reduction tactics. In May 2015, for example, BPD officers arrested a john during a bust at a city hotel. It is unclear if “traditional” reverse sting tactics (i.e., a police decoy) were used in the operation. The john was arrested charged with patronizing prostitution, and had his identity disclosed in press. Several months later, local media reported that the man had “agreed to complete a ‘john school” in [neighboring] Davidson County, forfeit $150 seized during his arrest to the Brentwood Police Department drug fund and… have no additional arrests during his six-month probation period.” Assuming the sex buyer complies with these terms and successfully completes the program, his charges will be dismissed.

In September 2015, BPD officers conducted a more large-scale reverse sting. The investigation intercepted 10 male sex buyers at a Brentwood hotel. Although the logistical details of the sting were not publicized, the names and other identifying information about the offenders were released in press.

In November 2017, an undercover human trafficking operation was announced by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Brentwood Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, and the office of 21^st District Attorney General Kim Helper has resulted in mostly felony indictments for 22 men in a targeted effort to identify individuals attempting to purchase illicit sex from minors. During the first three days of the operation in early October 2017, two female TBI Agents posed as individuals offering sex on Backpage.com. During the course of the resulting text or phone conversations, the Agents identified themselves as 14 and 16 years old. Those who were undeterred and still traveled to the location to meet for the purpose of illicit sex were arrested.  Of these and similar operations, TBI Director Mark Gwyn said:

“This is, without doubt, a demand-driven crime, involving men from all kinds of backgrounds. We need more men to stand up and talk honestly about how we got here as a culture and what we need to do to fix it. Unless we’re willing to hold one other accountable, we will continue to see too many people victimized by this kind of crime, with no one to blame but ourselves.”