Vineland, NJ

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

Vineland is a city of approximately 61,000 residents, situated in southern New Jersey’s Cumberland County near Millville and Bridgeton. Prostitution activity, occurring at street level and within adult-oriented businesses and massage parlors, has been reported in the community for decades. In 2011, Vineland drew national attention when a local resident was sentenced to 188 months in federal prison for recruiting and trafficking minor girls for prostitution in nearby Atlantic City. On at least two occasions, minors have also been picked up for soliciting or offering commercial sex acts to undercover officers during anti-prostitution operations.

In their efforts to reduce the size and scope of the city’s prostitution market, the Vineland Police Department has conducted periodic street-level reverse stings since at least 1999, if not earlier. Operations are often large in scale, resulting in the arrests of 25 or more male sex buyers in a single sting. During one such operation in July 2000, a suspect attempted to flee in a car when undercover officers were arresting him, colliding with a tree and injuring other VPD detectives in the process. To deter other would-be sex buyers, law enforcement and local media outlets also routinely publicize the names of individuals arrested for attempting to purchase sex.

Key Partners

  • Vineland Police Department
  • Millville Police Department

Key Sources

Street-Level Reverse Stings, Identity Disclosure:

Sex Trafficking and Child Sexual Exploitation in the Area:

Background on Prostitution in the Area:

Documented Violence Against Individuals Engaged in Prostitution in the Area:

State New Jersey
Type City
Population 61156
Location
Comments are closed.