Maywood is a village of approximately 27,000 residents, located just west of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois. To curtail local prostitution activity, the Maywood Police Department has conducted several street-level reverse stings using undercover female officers as decoys. Between 1998 and 2000, the MPD implemented a series of large-scale sex and drug stings, resulting in the arrests of dozens of sex buyers.

As much of the village’s prostitution-related arrests have occurred along the same roads, Maywood police have also adopted tactics to monitor activities in targeted “problem areas.” In November 2004, the MPD began installing surveillance cameras on buildings near highly trafficked intersections. The cameras are remotely-monitored by police stationed in the village’s 911 center, allowing officers to dispatch a patrol car at the first sign of illegal activity.

Similarly, in March 2009, the Maywood Village Board adopted an ordinance establishing a series of “Prostitution Free Zones”. The ordinance, which identifies a handful of areas associated with commercial sex sales, allows law enforcement to arrest individuals with previous solicitation convictions “on the spot” if they are seen loitering in the vicinity. Johns who violate the ordinance may face an additional $1,500 fine.

As Maywood police have not elaborated a formal shaming policy, the majority (although not all) of the village’s arrested sex buyers do not have their names released to the media. If sex buyers are arrested while attempting to solicit sex from a vehicle, however, they may have their car seized and towed.