Coram is a hamlet and census-designated place in the town of Brookhaven on Long Island, in Suffolk County, with a population of about 40,000.  Prostitution and sex trafficking have been well documented in the area for decades, and remain problematic to the present. In March, 2019, five men were arrested on multiple charges after authorities discovered evidence of a sex trafficking ring across Suffolk County. Police initially apprehended two men after authorities discovered they transported four women to a hotel in a van, forcing them to engage in prostitution. Further investigation revealed one defendant led a sex trafficking ring and operated in commercial establishments and residences in Shirley, Medford, Coram, Ridge, Ronkonkoma and Holtsville, according to the  Suffolk County District Attorney. The women were psychologically tortured and physically threatened so they would submit to prostitution and they were given drugs to impair their judgment and create debt that needed to be repaid, according to investigators. In a separate case in 2019, in November, a local man was arrested after attempting to take a prostituted woman by force to a wooded area in Coram. When she refused, he threatened to kill her and attempted to stop her from escaping. The victim jumped out of the car and suffered injuries. A similar incident had happened in 2018 with a different woman. Police found a knife, handgun, handcuffs and other restraint devices in his car. He was convicted in 2022 of attempted sex trafficking, and faces a minimum of 15 years in prison, and could face life in prison. In September 2022, it was reported that the Route 112 corridor, which includes the area where there is a bus stop and several wooded parcels, has been the subject of numerous community complaints about drug use, prostitution, and other illegal activity for over 10 years.

In their efforts to combat such crimes, local authorities have employed demand reduction tactics. Suffolk County police have conducted street level prostitution stings using female police officers posing as prostituted women. The decoys walk along certain roads and the sex buyers that approach with offers of money for sex are arrested. Some of the men arrested for soliciting have also been in possession of drugs. In one instance, a heroin and prostitution ring was dismantled based on evidence from a reverse sting. The names, ages, hometowns, and photos of those arrested have sometimes been reported in the media. The first known reverse sting in Coram occurred in 1991. Complaints about prostitution from residents have contributed to police decision-making about whether and where to conduct operations.

Some local arrests of sex buyers are the result of allegations of crimes against real victims, rather than the product of reverse stings using undercover police decoys.  For example, in the aforementioned case from November, 2019, the man was arrested after he tried to kidnap two prostituted women and force them to engage in commercial sex acts with him on separate occasions. The man was arrested by the FBI and Suffolk County Police Department and charged with two counts each of attempted trafficking by force and attempted kidnapping. The man sought out victims, solicited and patronized them for commercial sex, and then arranged another meeting with the women. At that time, he used both force and threats of force to try to take them to a secluded location. The women only managed to escape by jumping from his moving vehicle. The man tried contacting both women after they escaped, in one case trying to take the woman back by force while armed with a weapon. Police seized rope, zip ties, and manuals on knot tying from the man’s home. The investigation found that other prostituted women had also reported having violent encounters with the same man. His name, age, hometown, and other identifying information were released to the press.