Published December 15 2017
In its ongoing efforts to combat human trafficking, sex slavery and the demand side of prostitution-related crimes, the Bellevue Police Department joined forces with other law enforcement agencies in August and launched “Operation On Demand.” Undercover officers and detectives from the Bellevue Police Department and King County Sheriff’s Office posed as prostitutes as they gathered evidence from online buyers of sex. This weeklong operation resulted in the arrest of 110 individuals for the misdemeanor crime of patronizing a prostitute.
The undercover operation included the deployment of hidden cameras to visually capture the elements of the crime. Unfortunately, audio conversations were unintentionally captured between the suspect and the undercover officers in 61 of the 110 cases. Washington State law requires two-party consent to the recording of audio conversations. Due to this error, the City Attorney’s Office has dismissed the impacted cases. The remaining cases will proceed through the judicial process.
“While this turn of events is disheartening, it is important to remain focused on the goal of operations such as this: to eradicate human trafficking and its related crimes wherever they exist,” said Bellevue Police Chief Steve Mylett. “The mistakes made in this case were just that, mistakes. We will learn from these missteps and ensure we do not repeat them in future operations. Rest assured, there will be future undercover operations such as this one to achieve our goal.”