To combat prostitution and sex trafficking in the area, local law enforcement agencies have targeted consumer-level demand for commercial sex, which provides the revenue stream driving all commercial sex and trafficking. To identify and apprehend local sex buyers driving the prostitution and sex trafficking markets, the St. Croix County Sheriff’s Office has conducted web-based reverse stings targeting those who sexually exploit both adults and children.  For example, in February 2018 three sex buyers were arrested in a sting operation targeting sex trafficking in St. Croix County.  The men responded to online ads and communications with undercover police, and were seeking to pay to sexually abuse 14- and 15-year-old children. Among those arrested were two men charged with second-degree sexual assault of child, child enticement-sexual contact and using a computer to facilitate a child sex crime.

A statewide assessment by the Wisconsin Attorney General’s Office found law enforcement in nearly every county in the state to report human trafficking occurring in their community. To address this problem, the Attorney General established in September 2017 the Human Trafficking Bureau within the Division of Criminal Investigation. The bureau provides a coordinated statewide strategy to identify, target, and prosecute traffickers in order to combat human trafficking and provide needed assistance to survivors. From September 2017 to January 1, 2018, the DOJ Human Trafficking Bureau conducted 23 child and adult sex trafficking investigations, arrested 15 child and adult sex traffickers; and recovered 20 adult and four child sex trafficking victims.  In addition, the Task Force has arrested six men for buying sex. The Attorney General’s Office listed the following organizations as important contributors to the success of such operations in Wisconsin: Hudson Police Department; New Richmond Police Department; River Falls Police Department; and the St. Croix County Sheriff’s Office.