Springfield Township is one of the eleven townships in Lucas County, Ohio and has a population of roughly 26,000 residents. There are eleven total Springfield Townships in the State of Ohio, two of which have reported the implementation of various tactics to reduce the demand for commercial sex within their communities: Lucas County and Summit County. Due to Springfield Township’s close proximity to Toledo, prostitution and sex trafficking are significant issues within the area. Historically, prostitution and sex trafficking have been pervasive issues in Toledo, contributing to the current widespread presence of prostitution and sex trafficking within the city and its surrounding communities today.

In effort to reduce the consumer-level demand for prostitution in the city, the Toledo Police Department began conducting reverse stings in 1975. Consumer-level demand provides the revenue stream for all prostitution and sex trafficking and has therefore been targeted by local law enforcement agencies in their strategy for prevention and response. For example, in 2014, the Lucas County Sheriff’s Office conducted a collaborative human trafficking operation in Springfield Township that resulted in the arrest of over a dozen individuals for prostitution-related charges. According to reports, the investigation was led by the Lucas County Sheriff’s Office with assistance from the Wood County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI Child Exploitation Task Force at a hotel in Springfield Township. Three of offenders were charged with promoting prostitution, one being a male who was also arrested and charged with possession of drugs, obstructing official business, criminal damaging or endangering, receiving stolen property, and driving without a license.