web-stings
Beachwood is a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, located near Shaker Heights in Cuyahoga County, and has about 14,000 residents. Cases of prostitution and the attempted procurement of minors for commercial sex have been reported in the city. The Beachwood Police Department has conducted reverse stings to combat consumer-level demand for prostitution. In one operation, conducted […]
Minot is a city of about 48,000 residents situated along Highway 2 in Northern part of North Dakota. It’s the county seat of Ward County. Prostitution and sex trafficking, including through illicit massage businesses, are well-documented problems in the county, generating numerous complaints to police from the community. The problems increased substantially due to the […]
Fridley is a suburb of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and has a population of about 30,000. In recent years, cases of prostitution and sex trafficking have been reported in the area, often with ties to the nearby Twin Cities. In June 2014, for example, a Fridley man was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison […]
Willoughby is a city in Lake County, located in northern Ohio near Cleveland, and has a population of approximately 24,000 residents. Prostitution is a documented problem in the city and has been linked to other crimes. In one case, a man fleeing a prostitution sting assaulted an officer and rammed a police vehicle with his […]
Linn County has approximately 226,000 residents, and is located in eastern Iowa. Cedar Rapids is the county’s seat and largest city. Prostitution activity has been well-documented in the city and surrounding communities, and in other areas of the county. This activity and the problems and ancillary crimes it generates results in complaints to law enforcement […]
Ankeny is a city of approximately 70,000 residents, situated just north of Des Moines along Interstate 35 in Polk County, Iowa. Prostitution and sex trafficking are well-documented problems in the city, and investigations and enforcement actions have been conducted for decades. Consumer level demand provides the revenue stream for all prostitution and sex trafficking, and […]
Joplin is a city of about 52,000 residents that is located in western Missouri, along Interstate 44 near the Oklahoma and Kansas borders. Prostitution has been reported in the city as early as the 1870s, when a mining boom brought a large influx of male miners, soon followed by brothels. In 2012-2013, a case of […]
Grand Forks, the county seat of Grand Forks County, is a city of about 57,000 residents in eastern North Dakota. Prostitution and sex trafficking have been known to occur in the city and surrounding areas dating back to the late 1800s when the railroads were being built. Prostitution increased a great deal with North Dakota’s […]
Bloomington is a city of approximately 78,000 residents, located in McLean County in central Illinois. Prostitution and sex trafficking activity have been well-documented in the city and surrounding communities, and in unincorporated areas of the McLean County. For at least 50 years, the city had a robust “red light district” before it was was shut […]
Meridian is a city of approximately 118,000 residents in southwestern Idaho, located in Ada County. It is the second largest city in Idaho and is a suburb of the state’s capital, Boise. Prostitution and sex trafficking activity has been well-documented in the city, surrounding communities, and unincorporated areas of Ada County. This activity and the […]
Demand Forum is powered by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) and directed by Dr. Michael Shively, NCOSE's Senior Advisor on Research and Data Analysis. It was originally developed by Dr. Shively and Abt Associates with grant support from the National Institute of Justice. In January 2020 the website transferred to NCOSE. In January 2021, work began on a new grant from NIJ (#2020-75-CX-0011) to update and expand the content presented on Demand Forum.
