Racine is a city in Racine County, Wisconsin, with a population of approximately 79,000.  It is located on the shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Root River, approximately 30 miles south of Milwaukee and 60 miles north of Chicago. The presence of prostitution and sex trafficking is well-documented in the city and surrounding areas, and generates additional crimes. For example, in February 2014, a 22-year-old woman allegedly left her 2- and 5-year-old children home alone to meet with a prostitution “client” — who turned out to be an undercover investigator posing as a sex buyer. During her arrest, the woman asked investigators to check on her two children, who were left alone sleeping on a couch with the apartment door unlocked.  The woman was charged with prostitution and two counts of child abandonment.

To address the array of prostitution-related problems, tactics have included efforts to combat demand for commercial sex.  In 2007, the Racine Police Department conducted a prostitution sting, targeting several locations within the city. The Special Investigations and Community Policing Units identified the target areas based upon citizen complaints. Racine Police Officers posed as prostituted women, and 19 male sex buyers were arrested for Pandering, a Class A misdemeanor.

In May, 2018, an 18-year veteran of the Racine Police Department resigned after reaching a plea agreement on a prostitution charge. The man denied the accusation and entered a guilty plea to a charge of disorderly conduct.  He and the woman both said they had sex at his Milwaukee apartment and called police to report the theft of a gun after she left. The woman denied taking his gun but admitted to prostitution.  She says he paid her $100 to have sex with him, though he had promised her $300.  The man admitted to giving her money, but said he only did that so she would leave his apartment.