Brighton is a home rule municipality city of approximately 41,000 residents located in both Adams County and Weld County, Colorado. Brighton is the county seat of Adams County and is part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Front Range Urban Corridor. Prostitution and sex trafficking activity have been well-documented in the city and surrounding areas for decades. Among the more serious issues associated with the local commercial sex market is child sex trafficking.

In effort to reduce commercial sex activity, police have implemented demand reduction tactics, targeting individuals seeking to purchase commercial sex in the area. For example, in November 1989, a street-level reverse sting operation conducted in Brighton by the Adams County Sheriff’s Office resulted in the arrest of 33 male sex buyers, in addition to the seizure of approximately $2,500. According to reports, the money had been offered by sex buyers to two undercover female deputies posing as prostituted women during the six-day operation. Arrested sex buyers had responded to decoy advertisements deputies ran for three days in the business personal columns of Denver newspapers.

In addition to street-level reverse sting operations, other demand reduction tactics have been implemented in the city such as web-based reverse stings and sex buyer arrests. For example, in February 2017, an advertisement on Craigslist was brought to the attention of police by a concerned citizen. Police detectives, posing as the stepfather of a fictitious underage female, conversed with the suspect via e-mail and text message for several days. The man ultimately made arrangements to meet with the ‘girl’ with the intention of sexually exploiting her in exchange for money. Upon the sex buyer’s arrival to the predetermined location, he was arrested by police. The sex buyer’s identity and image were included in reports by local media outlets.