Brookhaven is a city in the northeastern suburbs of Atlanta and is located in western DeKalb County, Georgia, directly northeast of Atlanta.  DeKalb County contains 10% of the city of Atlanta within its boundaries, as well as the communities of Decatur, Dunwoody, Brookhaven, and Stone Mountain. Prostitution and the sex trafficking (of both adults and minors) are well-documented problems in Brookhaven. This activity and the problems and ancillary crimes it generates results in complaints to law enforcement agencies from residents and businesses.

Consumer level demand provides the revenue stream for all prostitution and sex trafficking, and has therefore been targeted by local law enforcement agencies as a strategy for prevention and response. The DeKalb County Police Department has collaborated with local police departments in Brookhaven and other cities to conduct periodic reverse stings. Other operations have involved large multijurisdictional efforts.  For example, in an operation in February, 2019, more than 50 people were arrested as part of sex trafficking sting operations conducted by federal, state and local law enforcement — including Brookhaven and Dunwoody Police — in the days around Super Bowl 53 in Altanta. Twenty-one suspects were arrested in Brookhaven and charged with soliciting sex with minors over the internet and other charges as part of Georgia Bureau of Investigation undercover operation held between Jan. 30 and Feb. 3.  In a separate operation, 32 people were arrested in Dunwoody between Jan. 28 and Feb. 4 and faced sex charges ranging from prostitution to enticing a child for indecent purposes.  In Brookhaven, “Operation Interception,” coordinated by the Georgia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the GBI, the Brookhaven Police Department and dozens of other area agencies, netted the 21 arrests as suspects drove into the city to allegedly meet up with minors for sex.  Task force members based the undercover operation’s headquarters out of Brookhaven at an unidentified location. Twenty of the people arrested were charged with violating the Computer or Electronic Pornography and Child Exploitation Prevention Act of 2007.