Hempstead is a town of just under 770,000 residents in Nassau County on Long Island, New York. Both prostitution and sex trafficking have been identified as local problems in many areas in Long Island, including Hempstead. In response to resident complaints, police have conducted street-level reverse stings starting in 1975. One operation netted 35 arrests of sex buyers in one night. Arrested sex buyers have been given the option of rehabilitation, counseling, and classes on sexually transmitted diseases. In 1990, the Hempstead police chief said,

”I think we are the only community on Long Island that puts female decoy cops wearing wires on the street. We videotape and then we arrest the johns. Between January and May of 1989, we arrested 241 prostitutes and 237 johns. We find that after we arrest a john we never see him back. It’s helping to curtail the problem.”

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 April, 2022, four men were arrested during an investigation into drugs and prostitution in the area. Ajoint investigation between the Narcotics/Vice Squad, Special Victims Squad, Gang Investigation Squad and the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office led to the search of a home on Baldwin Road in Hempstead where the arrests occurred. Two were charged with promoting prostitution, one was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance, and the fourth man was charged with “patronizing a prostitute.” The sex buyer was issued a court appearance ticket, and the others were arraigned  in First District Court in Hempstead.