Sacramento is the capital city of California, and has a population of approximately 500,000. Numerous local crimes accompanying prostitution and sex trafficking have been well-documented for decades. In a recent example, in April, 2023, it was announced that three girls aged 13 to 16 were rescued and over 100 people were arrested in a Sacramento County law enforcement human trafficking and childhood prostitution operation. The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said the countywide investigation ended with “95 misdemeanor citations, 7 felony arrests, 31 sex buyers cited, 65 prostituting persons cited, and 3 sex traffickers arrested in seven days.” Sacramento Sheriff Jim Cooper said that those numbers are due to state legislation making it easier for minors to become sex trafficking victims and harder for law enforcement to “engage with under-aged sex workers to the point where rescue intervention is restricted.” While existing California law makes it illegal to “solicit or engage in any act of prostitution,” California Senate Bill 1322, passed in 2016, made it so this was not applicable to minors under 18-years-old. “How do you rescue a minor that’s being human trafficked if you can’t detain them, you can’t interview them, to save them from a pimp?” said Cooper. Officials also reportedly cited 2020’s SB 203, which requires minors to speak with an attorney prior to being interrogated or waiving their Miranda Rights, and 2022’s SB 357, which removed existing rules on loitering in regards to prostitution, as reasons the numbers of persons involved in sex trafficking of minors are are so high. “Law enforcement can no longer solely use their expertise in identifying prostitutes through behaviors, even to make detentions of reasonable suspicion,” said the sheriff’s office in a press release. The city of Sacramento is also one of the locations in which a serial rapist and murderer specifically targeted women engaged in prostitution.

In April, 2023,, it was announced that three girls were rescued and over 100 people were arrested in a Sacramento County law enforcement human trafficking and childhood prostitution operation. The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said the countywide investigation ended with “95 misdemeanor citations, 7 felony arrests, 31 sex buyers cited, 65 prostituting persons cited, and 3 sex traffickers arrested in seven days.” Sacramento Sheriff Jim Cooper said that those numbers are due to state legislation making it easier for minors to become sex trafficking victims and harder for law enforcement to “engage with under-aged sex workers to the point where rescue intervention is restricted.” While existing California law makes it illegal to “solicit or engage in any act of prostitution,” California Senate Bill 1322, passed in 2016, made it so this was not applicable to minors under 18-years-old. “How do you rescue a minor that’s being human trafficked if you can’t detain them, you can’t interview them, to save them from a pimp?” said Cooper. Officials also reportedly cited 2020’s SB 203, which requires minors to speak with an attorney prior to being interrogated or waiving their Miranda Rights, and 2022’s SB 357, which removed existing rules on loitering in regards to prostitution, as reasons the numbers of persons involved in sex trafficking of minors are are so high. “Law enforcement can no longer solely use their expertise in identifying prostitutes through behaviors, even to make detentions of reasonable suspicion,” said the sheriff’s office in a press release.

To address the consumer-level demand that drives all prostitution and sex trafficking, Sacramento police began conducting reverse stings more than 25 years ago, and has averaged one or two demand reduction operations per year.  Responding to persistent complaints from residents and businesses, the city stepped up its efforts focusing on demand for commercial sex in 2005-2007, launching the use of web-based reverse stings, impounding vehicles, releasing the identities of arrested sex buyers, and engaging in collaborations with organized neighborhood action groups that specifically focus on the johns. In 2011, police and volunteers collaborated to send “Dear John” letters to suspected sex buyers.  The city has explored the “john school” concept, sending two police officers to observe a session of the First Offender Prostitution Program (FOPP) in San Francisco in 2006.  Too our knowledge, the city has not developed a john school, or has recent plans to do so.

The city of Sacramento has also participated in Sacramento County-wide reverse stings.  For example, in November 2020 the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office released results of a coordinated sting operation aimed at reducing human trafficking in the area. “Operation: Hot Spots” was aimed at targeting sex buyers, the demand side of human trafficking. The 2020 crackdown happened between September and mid-November, 2020, and resulted in 46 total arrests for soliciting for prostitution and human trafficking, more than twice as many arrests as during the prior year.

In January, 2022, Sacramento police announced that they had made 55 arrests during a major operation targeting sex trafficking that took almost a month to complete. The sting operation focused on tackling the demand side of human trafficking, and the operation included detectives posing as prostituted persons online. Sacramento police reported collaborating with agencies on reverse stings in other communities in addition to Sacramento, including Folsom, Roseville, and Rockville.