Johnson County is a mid-sized county of about 613,000 residents, covering the suburbs and unincorporated areas near Kansas City, KS. Prostitution is a well-documented problem in the area, and has been linked to a number of additional serious crimes.  For example, several child sex trafficking cases have been reported, and more than one serial killer has specifically targeted prostituted women in the county.

In addition to city-level efforts to address underlying demand in Kansas City, Overland Park, Merriam, De Soto, Shawnee, and Prairie Village, the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office has staged at least two street-level reverse stings targeted sex buyers at undisclosed locations within the county. In May 2011, for example, JCSO deputies arrested seven sex buyers during a sting in “rural Johnson County… [between] Kansas Highways 10 and 7,” but did not disclose the exact location of the arrests. The offenders’ names were not released to the public.  In 2012, a web-based reverse sting resulted in the arrest of seven sex buyers, whose names and photos were publicly released.

A john school operated by Model Equality and Veronica’s Voice called Stopping Sexual Exploitation: a Program for Men is based in Kansas City, Missouri and open to all courts within the Kansas City MSA, receiving men from, but not limited to Kansas City, KS, Kansas City, MO, Lenexa, Prairie Village, Johnson County, and Wyandotte County. SSEKC is designed to help men understand their behavior and promote their accountability in choosing to not buy sex. The program consists of the following components:

• Two individual 60-minute sessions of Motivational Interviewing (MI) before participation in the group. (MI has been proven to enhance the effectiveness of group intervention programs for perpetration of Domestic Violence and people struggling with chemical dependency.)
• Eight weekly group sessions will follow. Group size is limited, and the eight three-hour learning modules are highly interactive, utilizing exercises and group discussion to engage participants in a process of self-reflection and critical analysis. Weekly topics include:

1. 1. 1. Sexuality and Gender Socialization
      2. Harm to Victim/Survivors
      3. The Sexual Violence Continuum
      4. Pimping, Trafficking and Domestic Violence
      5. Power and Violence
      6. Vulnerability
      7. Mutuality in Relationships
      8. The Will to Change

The SSEKC program costs $850.00 with a sliding scale available to those who provide income verification. The process for successful completion of the program is as follows:

For more information on the SSEKC program follow the links below:

• Stopping Sexual Exploitation Kansas City (SSEKC) 2019 Evaluation Report
• Johnz School 2008-2014 Evaluation Report
• SSEKC 2019 Presentation