Springfield is a city of about 154,000 residents, located 25 miles north of Hartford, Connecticut near Holyoke in south-central Massachusetts, within Hampden County. Prostitution and sex trafficking have been identified by residents, businesses, and local law enforcement as a persistent problems in the city and surrounding areas for decades. In a recent example, in May, 2022, a Springfield man was indicted by a federal grand jury for a sex trafficking offenses involving a minor. According to the indictment, the man compelled a child to engage in commercial sex in West Springfield. He was arrested on charges of aggravated rape of a child and enticing a child. If found guilty, he would face a sentence of at least 10 years, plus 5 years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Among other problems related to the city’s commercial sex market, several cases of targeted assault and murder of prostituted persons have been investigated in Springfield, as well as a wide range of related drug and weapons offenses, and the production of child sexual abuse materials (CSAM, often referred to in criminal codes as “child pornography”). For example, in 2018, a Springfield man was arrested and indicted on multiple charges of sexual abuse and trafficking after police say he forced an underage girl to engage in prostitution and produced “child pornography.” He faced six counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, six counts of child pornography, three counts of trafficking in persons, two counts of promoting juvenile prostitution, involuntary servitude of a minor, and involuntary sexual servitude of a minor.

Prostituted women have also been raped, assaulted, and murdered, and at least one serial killer has preyed upon prostituted women in the city. In May, 2018, a man was arrested after fleeing from police, smashing into a cruiser, then yelling: “There’s a body in the trunk” during his arrest, authorities said at the time. A woman who was in the car told officers the man had been holding her against her will at his home, beat her with a copper pipe and a hammer, and choked her with a homemade garrote. He was arrested and tried, and during the proceeding, admitted he was a serial predator who trolled Springfield’s “sketchiest neighborhoods for sex workers and women addicted to drugs.” He plied his victims with offers to “get high,” took them to his home, and routinely smoked crack cocaine before he assaulted them. Several of his victims survived, and three didn’t. Police recovered the bodies of three women, all of whom struggled with drug addiction and two had been reported missing weeks or months earlier. After the man’s arrest, his mother called 911 to report a “putrid smell” and a swell of flies in the basement of her home, where she had been living there with the murderer and his 2-year-old daughter. The man struck an agreement with prosecutors to plead to 39 criminal counts just days before he was set for trial; he was sentenced to three consecutive life terms in prison in 2021.

To combat the consumer demand that motivates all sex trafficking, the Springfield Police Department has conducted reverse stings targeting sex buyers since at least 1989. In the early 1990s, city officials met with local business owners, residents, and law enforcement and outlined a strategy to combat growing prostitution activity in Springfield. Following (and informed by) these conversations, Springfield Police and the mayor’s office launched a “War on Johns” campaign. In fall 1992, officers conducted four street-level reversals in a three-week period. In December of that year, media outlets reported that the department had conducted six reverse stings in the previous two months. Following each of the operations, all of the offenders’ names were released to the public.

Around the same time, local residents and business owners also began targeting demand; in October 1992, the Springfield Union-News announced that some business owners had begun using surveillance cameras to document solicitation occurring near their storefronts. The businesses then shared the tapes– which often included footage of the license plates of solicitors– with the SPD. In May 1995, the Springfield Sunday Republican noted that some residents had begun posting anti-prostitution signs and distributing handouts that targeted sex buyers who repeatedly “cruised” through their neighborhood.

In 2014, a Springfield detective was arrested in prostitution sting. Enfield Superior Court Judge dismissed the charges against the Detective from Agawam, Massachusetts. In March, the judge granted the 42- year-old detective accelerated rehabilitation, a special program for first time offenders that can result in charges being erased after a probationary period

The city has on several occasions also attempted to adopt an auto seizure policy, whereby law enforcement could impound cars used for the purposes of solicitation. Although city hall has successfully “passed” such an ordinance, it has reportedly stalled in state legislature on at least three occasions. Similarly, the SPD has expressed interest in instituting a diversion program for first-time offenders convicted of prostitution and solicitation. When asked about a 2007 proposed state budget amendment that would set aside funds for such a program (for both sex buyers and prostituted persons), a SPD representative commented:

“Prostitution, where they are in a neighborhood, because they are drug dependent, they attract drug dealers.  The drug dealers then set up shop where the prostitutes are and then other drug dependent people will come in in droves… Nothing but good can come from [the program].  You take a first-time offender off the street, you get her help, and that will take her off the street from buying drugs so you’ll see crime go down.”

For several years Springfield Police had moved away from demand-reduction tactics in favor of arresting prostituted women. The SPD conducted several successful street-level reversals in 2012, but did not target sex buyers for about five years. Between January 2013 and September 2014, the New England Center of Investigative Reporting documented 107 prostitution arrests in the city– all of whom were charged with “being prostitutes.” When asked about the shift in strategy, a SPD representative noted that the department has struggled with logistical issues (timing, weather, lack of female agents to act as decoys) that have prevented them from conducting reverse stings. He added that sex buyers are still “picked up” in sweeps if caught with a prostituted person.

In November 2017, city and county officials announced the formation of a county-wide effort to combat prostitution and human trafficking by targeting those who seek sex for money rather than those who supply it. Officials pledged that that the latest effort to curb prostitution will be different from those prior in two ways. The first is it will focus on demand – the men who come to the city seeking to buy sex – rather than on prostituted men and women. The second is that the enforcement will be continuous, and not something done occasionally like prior anti-prostitution sweeps. The new approach, named the Human Trafficking Enforcement and Education Initiative, was announced in a press conference at the South End Community Center in Springfield by the Hampden County District Attorney, Hampden County Sheriff, and Springfield Mayor. The prosecution will be reserved for the sex buyers, and anyone arrested in Springfield for soliciting prostitution will have their name and photo publicized in the press.  In September 2018, Springfield police arrested 13 men during a reverse sting in the areas of Locust Street and Palmer Avenue as well as Main and Gardner Streets, and their identities were disclosed in news releases.

In November 2017, it was also announced that the Hampden County Sheriff’s Office is forming a “john school,” a 4-hour court-mandated program for anyone convicted of soliciting sex for money. Men arrested for soliciting sex in Springfield could end up in the CARD (Community Approach to Reduce Demand) program, operated by Spectrum Health Systems. Since it was introduced by the Worcester Police Department in 2015, through November 2017, 115 men had completed the class and none had been arrested again for soliciting sex in Worcester. The classes include presentations about sexually transmitted diseases, the impact prostitution has on neighborhoods and stories from survivors of sexual exploitation. The Hampden County Sheriff said the classes will be held at the jail in Ludlow, MA.

In May 2019, Springfield Police reported that they had arrested 84 men for solicitation and 24 women for prostitution between 2017 and early 2019.  The most recent reverse sting produced the arrest of six men in late April-early May, 2019. Police reported that over the past 10 years, prostitution in Springfield has been on the decline, and that by focusing on arresting the men, it sends a message of intolerance which deters others from trying to solicit sex.

In May, 2021, seven men were arrested during an undercover prostitution sting in Springfield, and their identities included in news reports.  The operation was conducted by the Springfield Police Department’s  Narcotics Unit, Springfield Police Detectives, the Massachusetts State Police Gang Unit, the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department, and Massachusetts State Police High Risk Victims Unit. The operation was carried out in response to ongoing quality of life complaints from citizens in the South End neighborhood.  In June and July, 2021, two additional reverse stings in Springfield led to the arrest of 14 additional male sex buyers, whose identities were publicized. In August, 2021, another reverse sting produced the arrest of nine sex buyers.  In September, 2022, a similar reverse sting produced the arrest of nine more male sex buyers. The operation was conducted due to neighborhood complaints and quality of life issues in the High Street and South End areas of the city.