Greenburgh, NY

Tactics Used

Auto Seizure
Buyer Arrests
Cameras
Community Service
Employment Loss
Identity Disclosure
IT Based Tactics
John School
Letters
License Suspension
Neighborhood Action
Public Education
Reverse Stings
SOAP Orders
Web Stings

Greenburgh is a town of approximately 95,000 residents, located near White Plains in Westchester County, New York. It includes the village of Elmsford. Law enforcement have reported problems related to prostitution, particularly activities arranged online and occurring in local hotels and motels, for several years. Cases of robbery of sex buyers and the assault and kidnapping of prostituted women have also been reported in the town. In February, 2014, it was announced that a widespread prostitution sting brought in connection with the Super Bowl netted at least 28 arrests in Westchester and Rockland counties. The arrests included seven who were accused with promoting prostitution, and at least 21 women who were accused of prostitution itself. Half of the arrests occurred in Rockland County, while the other half were taken into custody in Westchester County. The Super Bowl operation, carried out over six months, involved police departments in Greenburgh, Yonkers, White Plains, Rye Brook, New Rochelle and Clarkstown. In a case announced in August, 2022, law enforcement agencies estimated there were hundreds of victims in the Hudson valley linked to a single sex trafficking operation. The FBI, the Westchester County Safe Streets Task Force, Greenburgh Police Department, and the Westchester County Police Department announced they were seeking additional victims of the human trafficking investigation, after they had arrested the alleged leader of the conspiracy and charged her with sex trafficking in Westchester County and elsewhere.

In an effort to reduce commercial sex activity in the area, the Greenburgh Police Department has conducted periodic web stings. Operations have often been conducted in partnership with officers from nearby communities. In 2007, for example, Greenburgh Police partnered with the Rye, Rye Brook, and Elmsford Police Departments to set up a web-based prostitution sting on Craigslist. Police posted their own ads and arrested 14 men. The names, ages, and address of those arrested were reported in the news. Some of the investigations and undercover operations were launched by police after receiving complaints of prostitution from residents.

Greenburgh police have also engaged in opportunistic sex buyers arrests. For example, in September 2012, three people were arrested at a hotel in Elmsford after police responded to a robbery report. A man and a woman told police that another man had stolen $150 from the woman and fled into a wooded area across the street. Once apprehended, the man said he had gone to the hotel to meet a woman for prostitution, offering to pay her $200 for sexual conduct, but he tried to leave after seeing the woman at the hotel was not the same woman from the add. The man and woman who reported the robbery were charged with fourth-degree promoting prostitution and prostitution, respectively, while the other man was charged with third-degree patronizing a prostitute. His name, age, and hometown were publicized to the press.

Key Partners

Key Sources

Web-Based Reverse Stings:

Sex Buyer Arrests, Identity Disclosure:

Documented Violence Against Individuals Engaged in Prostitution in the Area:

Background on Prostitution in the Area:

Sex Trafficking and Child Sexual Exploitation in the Area:

State New York
Type City
Population 95397
Location
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