The Dove Spa was a massage parlor that the police suspected was operating as a prostitution enterprise, but they had no direct evidence to prove it. The police department decided to initiate an undercover operation in which a plainclothes detective entered and asked for the services of one of the women working there. The woman, of course, did not know he was a police officer or that he was wearing a hidden microphone. For $100 and a $35 tip, she fondled the officer's genitals. The same officer went back to the massage parlor four more times. Over a period of five months, the same officer also visited the massage parlor in another town and allowed the women, who were immigrants, to fondle him in exchange for cash. This was done in an apparent effort to investigate suspected prostitution and human trafficking. Ultimately, 30 police officers raided two businesses and arrested six peoplefour alleged prostitutes and two alleged pimps. The undercover methods were defended by the police but were criticized by legal experts and women's advocates as "excessive, unnecessary, and misapplied" to an investigation that involved suspected human trafficking.

1. Begin with an open mind (no preconceptions!),
2. Isolate and evaluate the relevant facts on both sides,
3. Identify the precise moral question to be answered, and
4. Apply ethical principles to the moral question based on an objective evaluation of the facts, only then drawing a conclusion.