Okaloosa County is a county in northwest Florida with a population of approximately 211,000. Prostitution and sex trafficking have been well-documented problems in the area for decades and has included the production of child sexual abuse materials (CSAM, often called “child pornography” in state criminal laws). For example, in December 2012, a woman was arrested by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Pensacola special agents and Northwest Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force members, hours after HSI issued an appeal for help. Federal authorities had asked for the public’s help in identifying a young woman seen having sex with a four- or five-year-old child on film. HSI stated that the woman produced child pornography in Okaloosa County. Officials from the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office have publicly discussed human trafficking cases in the county, which they have pursued since 2001, and in collaboration with the Homeland Security unit and the regional domestic security task force. Community complaints about prostitution have played a role in many local police operations.

To combat the cause of sex trafficking and prostitution – consumer-level demand for commercial sex – Sheriff’s deputies have conducted prostitution operations packaged as “Operation Safe Streets” that have included reverse stings.