Tysons Corner, VA

Tactics Used

Auto Seizure
Buyer Arrests
Cameras
Community Service
Employment Loss
Identity Disclosure
IT Based Tactics
John School
Letters
License Suspension
Neighborhood Action
Public Education
Reverse Stings
SOAP Orders
Web Stings

Tysons Corner is an unincorporated census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia with a population of approximately 25,000. The city is part of the Washington DC Metropolitan Area, and has experienced cases of child sex trafficking as well as standard negative impacts of commercial sex. Consumer level demand provides the revenue stream for all prostitution and sex trafficking, and has therefore been targeted by local law enforcement agencies as a strategy for prevention and response. For example, in October 2009, the Street Crimes Unit of the Fairfax County Police Department Organized Crime and Narcotics Division conducted a street-level reverse sting operation in Tysons Corner, Falls Church and Mount Vernon. While some officers coordinated street-level decoys and backup support teams, other officers conducted a web-based reverse sting in parallel to street efforts.  The dual-pronged strategy resulted in the arrest of 23 male sex buyers.

In August 2013, FCPD officers conducted a second large-scale reverse sting, this time exclusively using the web to apprehend sex buyers. According to The Washington Post, “23 men were arrested after communicating over the Internet with undercover officers they believed were prostitutes” and arranging to meet the officers at hotels in Tysons Corner, Falls Church, Springfield, and Herndon. As in its 2009 operation, the FCPD did not release the names of the arrestees, nor did they disclose the number of men arrested at each location.

State Virginia
Type City
Population 25230
Location
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