Bryan is a city of 86,539 residents in southeastern Texas’ Brazos County, near College Station. Prostitution activity has been well-documented in the city and surrounding communities, and in unincorporated areas of Brazos County. 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 sex trafficking, child endangerment, and violence committed against people involved in these transactions.

Consumer-level demand provides the revenue stream for all prostitution and sex trafficking, and has therefore been targeted by local law enforcement agencies in their strategy for prevention and response. Since at least 2003, the Bryan Police Department has conducted periodic street-level reverse stings using female undercover officers, to combat the array of problems stemming from commercial sex.  Those arrested have at times also been charged with drug possession. The names, ages, and other details about the sex buyers arrested are reported to the media. Complaints about prostitution in the area contribute to police conducting undercover operations.

In April 2018, six men were arrested during a web-based prostitution sting using decoy ads on Backpage.com, and arranged meetings with sex buyers at a local hotel.  Officers posted ads afternoon on a website called Backpage that’s commonly used by people seeking to engage in sexual acts for a fee. The men were taken into custody after agreeing on a price and showing up at the hotel. A sergeant with the operation told reporters that undercover investigators were communicating with 25 to 30 men, and that the majority of those men had been identified. The Backpage website was shutdown by the federal government during the operation. Bryan Police representatives said they thought they could have made about 20 arrests if the site was still live.  All of the six men arrested were soon released from jail on bond.  The sting was a targeted effort on behalf of the department’s Directed Deployment Team, which investigates vice crimes like prostitution.