Dickinson is a small city in Galveston County, Texas, with a population of about 22,000. Prostitution activity have been well-documented in the city and surrounding communities, and in unincorporated areas of the county. This activity and the problems and ancillary crimes it generates results in complaints to law enforcement agencies from residents and businesses. For example, in 2013, sheriff’s deputies arrested two Dickinson men at a League City park on misdemeanor charges of prostitution and indecent exposure.

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 Dickinson Police Department started doing reverse stings in 2001.  It is a small agency, and conducts sting operations only as needed (determined in part by complaints from the community), and when assistance from other police departments agencies is available.  The reverse sting operations typically result in three to five arrests.  Dickinson also releases to the media both the names and photos of the johns arrested in these operations.  For example, in September, 2006, six men were arrested in a prostitution reverse sting in Dickinson, with officers from the Dickinson and Nassau Bay police departments.  Female Nassau Bay police officers posed as prostitutes in an area of north Dickinson notorious for prostitution activity.  Five men from Dickinson and one from Willis were arrested after they approached the undercover officers and requested sex in return for money. The suspects were charged with prostitution.

Dickinson police have also collaborated with other agencies to condct reverse stings in other parts of Galveston County.  For example, in 2010, Galveston police assisted in an operation in Galveston, organized by Galveston Police Department s Vice and Narcotics Division. The sting resulted in the arrest of 17 men accused of soliciting sex from an undercover police officer, who was posted to 35th Street and Seawall Boulevard to pose as a prostituted person. The men, ranging in age from 25 to 63, were arrested on misdemeanor charges of prostitution with bonds set at $5,000 each.