Northfield is a village of approximately 4,000 residents in Summit County, Ohio. It is part of the Akron Metropolitan Statistical Area. Reports of prostitution and sex trafficking have recently been documented within the area. The substantial increase in instances of prostitution and sex trafficking in Northfield Village and its surrounding communities resulted in community action. For example, in 2020 MGM Northfield Park, a Northeast Ohio casino, donated $10,000 to the Summit County Sheriff’s Division of Human Trafficking and Prostitution to help reduce the demand for commercial sex and sex trafficking in the area. Employees are required to complete an education program on prostitution and sex trafficking, in addition to signing a code of conduct.

Since 1994, the Summit County Sheriff’s Office has collaborated with municipal police departments in their implementation of tactics focusing on reducing consumer-level demand for commercial sex and sex trafficking. For example, in 2020, the Summit County Sheriff’s Office, the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Investigations Unit, and the Northfield Village Police Department conducted an online operation focused on identifying and recovering potential victims of sex trafficking in addition to arresting individuals seeking to engage in commercial sex. According to reports, officers posed as potential sex buyers online and contacted individuals suspected of being victims of sex trafficking. In total, officials contacted 18 individuals; 10 were identified as victims of sex trafficking and eight individuals were arrested for soliciting prostitution amongst other misdemeanor charges. One of the arrested offenders was charged with promoting prostitution. The offenders’ identities were included in reports from local news sources.