Burlington is a city of about 42,000 residents in northern Vermont, in Chittenden County. Prostitution and sex trafficking are known to be widespread in the city and surrounding areas, and have been for decades. For example, in November 1981 a man was arrested and charged with operating a local prostitution ring under the guise of an escort service. The Chittenden County State’s Attorney reportedly considered whether to release the names of more than 20 men who appeared on a “client list” and may have patronized the alleged prostitution ring. Four women were also cited into court on prostitution charges, and police seized a list of more than 20 clients, some of whom reportedly were well-known in the Burlington area. A number of human trafficking investigations across Vermont between 2013 and 2016 — including in Burlington, Shelburne, Colchester, Williston, Rutland, and Bennington — involved massage spas and parlors serving as fronts for illegal activity. Authorities said that traffickers would bring young women to Vermont from overseas or other states and force them into commercial sex. A federal grant application submitted in 2018 by the statewide Human Trafficking Task Force showed that the number of victims who received services in Vermont jumped by almost 400 percent between 2015 and 2017, from 31 to 150 people. The number of sex trafficking investigations doubled in that same period of time, from 31 to 64.  In June, 2018 it was announced that the Vermont Human Trafficking Task Force (VT HTTF) would formally pursue the state’s multidisciplinary approach to combating human trafficking affecting the State of Vermont. Since 2013, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Vermont Attorney General’s Office had worked to facilitate a collaborative effort to eliminate and prevent the trafficking of persons within the State, and also pursue the links between opioids and other drugs to human trafficking. Between 2014 and mid-2017, in the Chittenden County area of the state, the HTTF’s data collection efforts estimate that there were over 250 suspected incidents of human trafficking, and state officials believe that the incidence of sex and labor trafficking in Vermont statewide is substantially higher than these numbers suggest. Among the law enforcement agencies signing the MOU of the Task Force are the Burlington Police Department, the Office of the Attorney General for the State of Vermont, Vermont State Police, Vermont Department for Children and Families, Burlington Police Department, and the Office of the Chittenden County State’s Attorney.

In May, 2019, a jury convicted a man in the first-ever sex trafficking trial in Vermont. He was found guilty on 15-of-16 charges involving drugs, guns and prostitution. The prosecution said the offender coerced numerous women who were addicted to heroin to prostitute themselves as part of a drug and sex ring he operated out of Burlington for several years. The jury deliberated for six hours and found the man guilty on all counts except a gun charge. This included heroin and cocaine distribution, as well as the trafficking of at least five young women for commercial sex.

In June 2014, a more traditional web-based reverse sting operation was conducted, resulting in the arrest of seven sex buyers. Minutes after police say they placed an ad on a website known to be used for prostitution, people started responding with phone calls, texts, and emails. The ad was posted for 6 hours and during that time 40 people responded to ask about paying for sex. In July 2014, the Chittenden County State’s Attorney’s Office announced that the johns arrested during the June operation would be given the opportunity to avoid prosecution pending completion of a class that discusses the “complex circumstances that underlie prostitution.” The class will be taught by the director of Give Way to Freedom, a foundation that focuses on human trafficking awareness, prevention and recovery services, and will reportedly cover “statistics, facts and characteristics about all forms of human trafficking and the victimization caused by the crime.”

In November, 2015, the Burlington Police Department arrested nine men on sex crime charges in a prostitution sweep conducted using an undercover female police officer, posting ads on a website “well known for being a haven for classified ads offering sex for a fee,” Burlington police said in a statement. The identities of the men charged with engaging in sexual conduct for a fee were included in press releases.

Potential De Facto Decriminalization of Prostitution in Burlington, and the End of Demand Reduction Efforts:

In October, 2021, the Burlington City Council fully decriminalized prostitution at the local level by voting unanimously to repeal city ordinances prohibiting prostitution. In addition, in December, 2021 the City Council voted unanimously to change the city’s charter, removing language that authorized the City Council to pass ordinances restricting prostitution.  There have also been bills introduced at the state level to fully decriminalize prostitution. While the local changes to the city charter and city ordinances do not override state law, which as of January, 2022 maintain prostitution prohibitions in the criminal code, they do reflect the priorities of the city government and may signal a “de facto” decriminalization of prostitution; i.e., city agencies may essentially fully decriminalize local  prostitution by directing prosecutors not to pursue prostitution charges, and direct municipal police not to arrest for prostitution offenses.  Thus, with local ordinances repealing prostitution prohibitions, and agencies directing their attention elsewhere, most of the tactics used to combat consumer demand for prostitution and trafficked sex would be rendered obsolete.  For example, no stings or ad hoc arrests of sex buyers would be possible unless they involved children or demonstrably trafficked persons, and the post-arrest measures (such as court-ordered or plea agreement john schools, vehicle seizures, community service) would also be inoperable.

Local responses to a survey conducted in later 2021 by the NCOSE team for a National Institute of Justice grant to update and expand Demand Forum (Grant #2020-75-CX-0011) suggest that de facto decriminalization has taken place in the city as the result of the city council removing local ordinances.  A representative from the Burlington Police Department responding to the survey in late November, 2021, said that prostitution is now decriminalized within the jurisdiction, but that some of the demand reduction tactics had been used in the city prior to prostitution being decriminalized in 2021.