Middletown is a city of approximately 30,000 residents, located in the Hudson Valley in New York. Prostitution has been a well known problem in the city for years. For example, in June 2018, the City of Middletown Police Department Narcotics Unit, along with the New York State Police, Homeland Security Investigations and FBI Safe Streets Task Force, conducted a specialized enforcement detail targeting street level narcotics and prostitution-related offenses. They arrested several individuals on a variety of prostitution and drug charges.

In an effort to reduce local demand for prostitution, the Middletown Police Department has implemented the use of street-level reverse stings to identify and apprehend sex buyers. During a one-week period in 2012, for example, MPD officers made 46 arrests in the city’s downtown area. In a similar reversal in July 2015, 13 sex buyers and 3 women offering acts of prostitution were arrested in a dual-sting in the same location. In June 2018, officials in Orange County disclosed results of a prostitution and narcotics enforcement detail that resulted in the arrest of one sex buyer and five prostituted women. The Middletown Police Department’s Narcotics Unit made the arrests in conjunction with state police and the FBI Safe Streets Task Force. To deter potential sex buyers, the MPD often releases the names of arrestees to local media outlets, and has at times included their identities in department press releases. In December, 2022, members of the Troop F Community Stabilization Unit and City of Middletown Police Department conducted a joint operation targeting street level prostitution throughout the city. As a result of the detail three arrests were made for persons charged with PL 230.02 “patronizing a person for prostitution.” All subjects were released on Appearance Tickets pending future court dates.