Clifton is a community of approximately 85,000 residents, situated east of Manhattan near Paterson in Passaic County, New Jersey. Indoor prostitution in local hotels has been identified as a substantial problem and has generated complaints to police from residents.

In an effort to reduce prostitution in the city, the Clifton Police Department has conducted at least one web-based reverse sting. The January 2014 reversal was part of a larger, ongoing investigation aimed at identifying and recovering prostituted and trafficked individuals, and arresting their pimps or traffickers. Over a two-month period, a total of sixteen people were arrested at two hotels  in a series of sting operations leading up to Super Bowl XLVIII on February 2, 2014.  Ten women and four men were arrested on prostitution charges, and two additional men were arrested on drug charges. Three of the women arrested reported they were from out-of-state (two from California and one from Colorado), suggesting that the city may be part of a larger-scale commercial sex network or circuit.