Demand Forum: Resources for the Prevention of Prostitution and Sex Trafficking

Demand Forum

Resources for the Prevention of Prostitution and Sex Trafficking

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  • January 26, 2012
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Harris County, TX

Categories:

Tactics Used

Reverse stings ✓
Shaming ✓
Auto seizure ✓
Community service ✓
Public education ✓
Neighborhood action ✓
SOAP orders ✓
John school ✓
Letters ✓
Cameras ✓
Web stings ✓
License suspension ✓

Harris County is a county of over 4.4 million residents, located in southwest Texas. Houston is the county’s seat and largest city, but it also contains the communities of Spring, Humble and Cloverleaf. For the purposes of Demand Forum website, we have limited the tactics and operations discussed here to county-level policies and/or sting operations that occur in unincorporated or otherwise undisclosed areas.

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office conducts periodic web stings targeting sex buyers. During these operations, HCSO deputies post decoy advertisements to websites known for commercial sex sales. Undercover female deputies then field phone calls from individuals as they respond to the listing, and set up a meeting with them at a prearranged location. To protect the sanctity of future operations, the HCSO rarely discloses these locations. In 2017, a former Houston police officer was among more than 250 sex buyers and traffickers arrested on prostitution charges during a month-long series of reverse stings by the Houston Police Department and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.  The operation in Harris County and Houston was coordinated with similar efforts elsewhere as part of the National Johns Suppression Initiative during June and July of 2017, in which law enforcement agencies in 17 states participated. During the first three months of 2018, more than 120 people were arrested for compelling prostitution or solicitation of prostitution, as part of a larger initiative cracking down on prostitution and sex trafficking. In April 2018, an additional 33 sex buyers were arrested.

On occasion, sheriff’s deputies have also conducted street-level reverse stings along major roadways in the county (such as Interstate 45 North, the Eastex Freeway, and Beltway 8). In these instances, HSCO operatives have similarly opted not to reveal the exact location of the arrests. For example, in September 2013, 15 johns were arrested after soliciting sex from female deputies posing as prostituted women “along the I-45 North and Eastex Freeway frontage roads, just south of Beltway 8.” Similarly, in August 2014, the HCSO reported it arrested 76 johns during a two-week reverse sting operation, the location of which was not disclosed. Following the investigation, the HCSO Sheriff stated:

“Prostitution is intertwined with sex slavery and illegal drugs as part of an insidious network of criminal enterprises… This is not the first time we have used undercover male and female deputies to disrupt these illegal operations, and it won’t be the last. If you buy sex in Harris County, the price can also include jail time.”

Sex buyers (as well as sex sellers) routinely have their names, photos, and other identifying information released to the local media. For example, in September, 2018, Houston police released 54 new booking photos of people arrested in August for either compelling prostitution or solicitation of prostitution.

In February 2018, a Houston Chronicle analysis of more than 300 arrest records from 2017 provided insight into what happens after men are arrested in Harris County for soliciting a prostitute. They found that of the 178 men arrested in Houston  that year during a crackdown on prostitution, charges were dismissed or are on track for dismissal in nearly 70 percent of the criminal cases a year later. The high rate of dismissals for men arrested on charges of soliciting a prostitute prompted the Harris County District Attorney’s Office to scale back use of a pre-trial diversion program that allowed many defendants to avoid convictions. Of the 178 men arrested, more than 95 enrolled in the diversion program, which typically offers a six month to one-year probationary term approved by the district attorney’s office for first-time offenders. Defendants agree to undergo drug testing, pay fees and complete an AIDS awareness course, among other things. Once the probationary terms are fulfilled, the charge is dismissed. That allows those arrested to seek expungement, which leaves no evidence of the arrest or diversion. About 14 percent of all the February 2017 cases stemming from the sheriff’s office sting were expunged by February 2018, according to the Houston Chronicle’s analysis.

Key Partners

  • Harris County Sheriff’s Office
  • Harris County Constable Precinct 4
  • Harris County Constable Precinct 1

Key Sources

  • Shaming:
    • “Deputies Arrest 16 in Harris County Prostitution Sting”, Houston Chronicle, September 26 2013.
    • “11 Nabbed in Prostitution Sting in North Harris County,” Houston Chronicle, May 22 2015.
    • “19 Arrested in Two-Day Houston Prostitution Sting,” Houston Chronicle, January 22 2016.
    • “Prostitution Sting Nabs 20 in North Harris County,” Houston Chronicle, June 17 2016.
    • “Former HPD officer among those arrested in prostitution sting.” Click2Houston.com, August 19, 2017.
    • https://www.khou.com/hpd-arrests-over-100-in-latest-prostitution-crackdown (2018)
    • https://www.chron.com/houston-police-sex-trade-pimp-mugshots (2018)
  • Street-Level Reverse Stings:
    • “More than a Dozen Arrested in Undercover Prostitution Sting”, Woodlands Villager and Spring Observer, September 26 2013.
    • “99 Busted in Houston-Area Prostitution Sting”, Houston Chronicle, August 6 2014.
    • “99 ‘Johns’ and Prostitutes Arrested in Harris County during Three-Week Sweep”, Memorial Examiner, August 6 2014.
    • “Deputies Yield 99 Arrests in 3-Week Undercover Operation”, FOX/KRIV-TV 26, August 6 2014.
    • “Constables Yield 19 Arrests for Prostitution-Related Criminal Charges in North Harris County,” Humble Tribune, January 22 2016.
    • “Super Bowl Sex Trafficking Sting Nets over 500 Sex Buyers, 30 Pimps,” Press Release, Cook County Sheriff’s Office, February 9 2016.
  • Web-Based Reverse Stings:
    • “HCSO: Prostitution Sting Nabs 7”, FOX/KRIV-TV 26, October 12 2012.
    • “Seven Men Arrested in Online Prostitution Sting”, ABC/KTRK-TV 13, October 12 2012.
    • “Halliburton Executive Bonds Out of Jail”, Houston Business Journal, October 16 2012.
    • “Former HPD officer among those arrested in prostitution sting.” Click2Houston.com, August 19, 2017.
    • https://www.khou.com/hpd-arrests-over-100-in-latest-prostitution-crackdown (2018)
    • https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/houston-police-sex-trade-pimp-mugshots (2018)
    • https://www.click2houston.com/news/woman-33-men-arrested-in-hpd-human-trafficking-bust (2018)
    • https://www.click2houston.com/dozens-of-arrests-made-in-human-trafficking-operation (2019)
  • Community Service:
    • https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/houston-prostitution-sting-arrests-police (2018)
  • Sex Trafficking in the Area:
    • “Sexually Oriented Businesses Still a Problem”, Cypress Creek Mirror, October 14 2013.
    • https://patch.com/texas/houston/alleged-pimp-arrested-during-undercover-sting-river-oaks (2018)
  • Documented Violence Against Individuals Engaged in Prostitution in the Area:
    • “Man Accused of Raping Prostitute Now Charged in a Woman’s Death”, Houston Chronicle, October 17 2011.
    • “Guard May Be Linked to Killings of 15 Prostitutes”, Houston Chronicle, October 20 2011.
    • “Security Guard Accused in Prostitute’s Murder Now Charged in Death of Crosby Mom”, CBS/KHOU-TV 11, October 20 2011.
  • Background on Prostitution in the Area:
    • “County Attorney Vince Ryan Sues Truck Stop”, Deer Park Broadcaster, February 20 2014.
    • “DA Announces New Court to Help Prostitutes,” Houston Chronicle, October 16 2014.
  • Child Endangerment:
    • “Pct. 4: Former HPD Officer Had 4-Year-Old with Him When Busted in Prostitution Sting; North Harris County Prostitution Bust Nets a Dozen Arrests,” NBC/KPRC-TV 2, February 12 2016.
State Texas
Type County
Population 4441370
Location
← Harlingen, TX
Harrisburg, PA →
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