Human Trafficking Victims Trafficking Drugs: How Can Law Enforcement Respond?

“Cartels scheme to get noncriminals to do their dirty work”, written by ALFREDO CORCHADO, appeared in the Dallas Morning News on December 30, 2011.  This is an interesting article outlining how drug traffickers in Mexico use threats of violence to enlist unwilling smugglers into the drug trade, yet another example of how human traffickers exploit others.  Under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, labor or services obtained through force, fraud, or coercion is human trafficking.  Corchado mentions a woman, currently in custody, who was told by drug traffickers her family would be harmed if she did not transport marijuana across the border into El Paso.  This type of coercion, threats to harm someone’s family, is often used by traffickers who exploit their victims through the commercial sex trade, or other forms of involuntary labor.  But this particular situation places victims is a terrible position where they have no one to turn to for help.  Corchado quotes the mother of one victim, “We’re innocent people, but no one believes our story in the United States, or in Mexico.  …it’s like it never happened because we don’t speak up; we don’t complain.  Complain to Whom?  We don’t trust Mexican authorities, and the Americans see everything in black and white.”

Speaking from the perspective of American law enforcement, this type of situation is exceedingly difficult to investigate!  If I arrest an individual possessing drugs in California (my home state) after they have crossed the border from Mexico, how can I verify their version of events when I would need to conduct my investigation in Mexico?  This heinous use of innocent victims as human mules not only places all of the risk of transport on the enslaved (for slaves is exactly what these people are), but at the same time it shelters the drug cartels and their minions, placing a border, lack of law enforcement cooperation, language, and other barriers between those who are responsible for protecting victims of crimes and the true criminals in this situation.

As an investigator, I have on occasion initially suspected a particular individual of committing a crime, only to change my mind later on.  My job then is to not only determine who did commit the crime, but often to find evidence to support the alibi of the person initially suspected.  Imagine this situation: working as a patrol officer I make contact with a man and his friend who are walking down the street, and through a legal search I find a envelop of cocaine in his pocket.  He professes the cocaine is not his, but belongs to his friend who is walking with him.  I can either take the easy route and arrest the man for possession or, if I am diligent in my work, I question both parties to determine if the story is true.  But if I only have the suspect to interview, and no way to investigate and verify their statement, my options are nil; I cannot simply release an individual, even if I believe their story.  I must have exculpatory evidence which I can take to my prosecutor, who has the authority to drop any charges against the suspect.

Of course, those individuals who are forced to transport drugs are in the minority; most drug smuggling is performed by willing participants.  This makes the decision too easy for most law enforcement officers: arrest the person holding the drugs and let the attorneys and the court system figure out the details from there, after all, possession is 99 percent of the law.

In the midst of the drug trade, and especially the violence embraced by the Mexican cartels, there are many innocent victims.  Those of us combating human trafficking must see this element of the cartel’s business for exactly what it is: another form of slavery.  This type of exploitation will be immensely difficult to prevent or solve, but the first step in defeating any problem is recognition.  I applaud Alfredo Corchado for his work.

Global Forum on Human Trafficking: Three Things I Like

The Global Forum on Human Trafficking, sponsored by the Not For Sale Campaign, kicked off today on the campus of Juniper Networks in Sunnyvale.  It is great to have this event in Silicon Valley this year, after the 2009 and 2010 forums occurred in Southern California.  The GF is a great place to get re-invigorated for the fight against slavery, catch up with old friends, make new friends, and just learn about some cool things.  Here are three items that caught my eye today:

Check out One World Futbol.  I met founder Tim Jahnigen today.  Tim makes this indestructible soccer ball and has a mission to get this ball into the hands of children who need a ball to play with.  Very cool!  Just one man’s idea on how to make a difference in the world.

Listening to CNN Producer Mike McCarthy (and, later, chatting with him personally) talk about CNN’s year-long Freedom Project.  This excellent series is the first commitment by any major news organization to take an in-depth look at modern slavery.  In fact, according to Mike, no network news organisation has ever committed to covering any topic over the course of a year. 

Speaking of committment, VP of Social and Environmental Responsibility at Gap, Inc., Kindley Walsh Lawlor, talked about their committment to look deeply into their supply chain.  When asked by David Batstone if Gap believed their social responsibility programs helped increase their sales, Kindley replied they have not been able to determine any impact on sales, but Gap remains committed to their CSR programs because it is, simply, the right thing to do. 

There are many activities in the response to trafficking which cannot easily be quantified to show their value.  Some things we must do simply because, when we look at them, we know they are the right thing to do. 

Tomorrow morning I’ll be speaking on a panel discussion focusing on developing communities which have a zero tolerance for slavery.

John

Where Better to Spend the Night?

 

A close look at the "business space" inside a residential brothel. Below, a clean, safe, holding cell in Orange County.

 

Here is an interesting topic for discussion for abolistionists!  Also,  I am currently teaching an online workshop on Human Trafficking for the Monterey Institute of International Studies and I am having my students give me their thoughts on this issue, too.  

 

Two images for you to consider: on the left we have the typical “working area” in a residential brothel where 5-10 men per day have sex.  Please not the box of tissues, the single sheet and pillow.  Please understand that the house has 3-5 rooms exactly like this with men entering and leaving every 30-40 minutes.

 

 

 

 

The photo above is the interior of a holding cell located in a municipal police department’s custody area.  Two beds, a toilet and sink, a phone.  No more than two people are held in this cell, and men and women are never housed together.  Windows allow guards to view inside the cell to verify the safety of those being held. 

 

Please consider this scenario.  You are involved in an investigation of the brothel where this photo was taken.  You have a search warrant and upon entry you find two women who you believe are engaged in commercial sex.  These women are both from Korea and you know that in your city Korean women are routinely duped into coming to town to work in legitimate jobs, only to be forced to work in a brothel and pay back a $20,000 debt.  While you are at the house, the women refuse to talk with you, even though you have victim-services providers with you to screen the woman for potential of being victims of human trafficking.

 

You have a choice: you can either issue these woman a criminal citation (a “ticket”) which tells them to appear in court in 45 days and you can leave the women there.

 

Option #2 is to take these women and book them into jail where they will spend their time in a cell like the one shown above.  The next day, professional anti-trafficking case managers will visit the women and attempt to gain rapport, explain to the women that they may be the victims of human trafficking, and, if so, the case workers will work closely with the Police and the local prosecutors to drop the charges for which they have been arrested, and begin offering the women the assistance and reliefs they are entitled under Federal and State.  Any woman who does NOT meet the criteria of a trafficking victim (or refuses to cooperate with the case workers and police) will be held until arraignment or released on her own recognizance.

 

This scenario brings up several issues, but at the moment the problem is a simple choice; let the women stay and sleep on the mattress on the floor, or arrest them and have them sleep in the cell pictured.

 

What would you do?

 

John

 

2011 Trafficking in Persons Report: Five Things I Like!

Each June the United States Department of State releases the Trafficking in Persons Report.  The TIP Report is part recap of worldwide successes during the previous calendar year, part update on promising practices, and part diplomacy tool in which countries are measured on the effectiveness of their anti-trafficking efforts.   The release of the TIP Report is always eagerly anticipated by anti-trafficking professionals, and those who simply follow the fight against slavery, alike.

Written by the staff of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (aka: G/TIP), the report also includes insightful commentary on promising practices, and the evolution of our understanding of modern-day slavery.  These elements of the report make some of the most interesting reading in my estimation; they show our collective progression since the passage of the TVPA, challenge outdated assumptions, and, hopefully, spur us on to develop new tools and techniques to incorporate in our response to this gross violation of human rights.

This year’s report gives us much to think about and to, potentially, debate.  In any case, it stretches the mind and makes for a great blog topic!  So here, in no particular order, are five things I like from the 2011 Trafficking in Persons Report.

People are Not Collateral (page 24).  Victims of trafficking are routinely assumed – wrongly - to come from the lowest socio-economic and educational levels of their respective communities.  Too often we paint those who are exploited by traffickers as weak, illiterate, and perhaps too naive to avoid their fate.  Yet, according to the report, studies show that the incidence of trafficking in some countries of origin are highest among those who have become empowered, and have some tools (education or skills) with which to seek a better life.  These victims are, in many ways, no different from my grandparents who came to America looking for a better life in this nation of potential opportunities.  The lure of a job, no matter how simple, is often all that is needed to enslave a human being.  Even the smartest of individuals are victims of crime.

Promulgating Business Standards (page 22).  The clothes we wear, the food we eat, the products we purchase all have supply chains that need to be examined or monitored to ensure forced or child labor is not involved.  From the report: “Given the complexity of today’s supply chains, however, the most effective solutions for ending forced labor will come from collaboration among governments, corporations, civil society, and consumers.”  As with all elements of the anti-trafficking response, collaboration is critical.  Great things are being done in the area of ethical codes of conduct and corporate social responsibility.  If you are interested in this area of response, I suggest you attend the Global Forum on Human Trafficking  where, among addressing other anti-trafficking issues, the role of corporations is an important theme.

Techniques of Control Used by Sex Traffickers and Pimps (page 25).  It is important to recognize that trafficking victims are controlled through “soft” means more often than “hard” means.  The power of psychological coercion is tremendous, often negating the need for locks, barred doors, or barbed wire.  Acknowledging these forms of control are important if we are to truly “look beneath the surface” to identify victims, and then move forward with effective investigations and prosecutions.  As a society (or a jury) we need to understand the power a trafficker can hold over their prey by simply providing shelter, food, or “love”, to those who cannot find these at home.

New Media for a New Fight (page 35).  It is awesome to see the application of social media platforms in the fight against slavery.  (Hey, you’re reading my blog, right?)  Abolitionists seem to be on the forward edge of utilizing new media for the cause, while I am often dismayed by how long it has taken most law enforcement and many service providers to embrace even the most basic platforms, such as Facebook.  Referring to new media, the TIP  report states, “…it cannot just be a tool for NGOs and civil society to disseminate information.  New media must also be a resource for helping governments strengthen their anti-trafficking efforts.”  New ways to apply social media are being developed to fight trafficking and other crimes, and we are limited mostly by institutions lacking the agility to utilize these tools.

Proactive Victim Identification (page 40).  This is critical, because the TIP is absolutely correct stating, “Many governments provide training to law enforcement on victim identification and then expect that law enforcement will encounter trafficking victims in the course of their regular duties as though by chance.  The reality is far different.  Victims typically cannot describe what they’ve been trough in simple language, much less the technical terms of the Palermo Protocol or their national legislation; they rarely self-identify.”  Training law enforcement cannot focus simply on the definition of trafficking or elements of the crime; it must stress the necessity for law enforcement to change their cultural view to encompass how people become enslaved – especially when examining the commercial sex trade!  Other professionals who have the potential to be first-identifiers of trafficking victims must also be trained to spot the clues of a trafficking situation, and we must all be proactively searching for victims.  A survey by the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST) determined that, on average, the trafficking survivors they have served came into contact with over ten individuals who could identified these victims of trafficking had those individuals known how to spot a modern-day slave.

I look forward to discussing this year’s TIP report with my colleagues, since this one-of-a-kind document always spurs discussion, debate, and pushes us all forward in the fight against slavery.  This year’s TIP report is one of the best.  Kudos to the G/TIP staff and Ambassador CdeBaca.

The Disconnect Between Rescuing Victims & Successful Prosecutions

I am routinely asked why we don’t see more people going to prison for the crime of trafficking in persons.  The reasons are numerous, including the relatively recent creation of anti-trafficking laws, minimal training opportunities for law enforcement, the challenge for prosecutors, and the lack of public awareness.  The complexity of trafficking is immense, and sometimes criminal convictions do not result even from the best efforts of investigators and prosecutors.

On June 14th the San Jose Mercury News reported that two individuals, Paula Luna Alvarez and her husband Carlos Del Carmen, who had been charged with 100 criminal counts by federal prosecutors - some of which may have been related to human trafficking - had pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit social security fraud and were sentenced to five years probation.  Reading the article, some of the complexities in this case become  apparent.  (There is a factual error in the article: the investigation was not initiated after the former employee reported the alleged smuggling to San Jose Police.  The investigation was initiated and conducted by federal authorities after information was provided to a federal agency.  During the course of the investigation some limited assistance was provided by San Jose Police officers assigned to the Human Trafficking Task Force and Special Investigations Unit.)  

When the arrests were made in June 2008 (read a brief article on the arrests) it was believed human trafficking was involved.  It took three years for this case to be concluded, which is not as rare; federal human trafficking prosecutions routinely take 18-24 months, or longer.  (In contrast, when I was investigating sexual assaults where the cases are typically less complex and prosecuted by our county District Attorney, cases were usually adjudicated in less than a year.)  These lengthy prosecutions are not the fault of any agency or the U.S. government, it is simply the result of the judicial process and, again, the complexity of these cases.  Ultimately, regardless of how long a prosecution takes, it is disappointing when defendants seem to avoid having to pay their due for their alleged crimes.  Ultimately, charges of forced labor or servitude (human trafficking) were not included in this case, but under both federal and state law, that doesn’t prevent the victims from receiving relief as victims of trafficking. 

What we often neglect to remember is that while the wheels of justice turn slowly, victims of crime are trying desperately to move on with their lives, making the transition from “victim” to “survivor”.  In this case, victims received a variety of services and reliefs from federal victim-assistance coordinators and from the victim-services agencies who are members of the South Bay Coalition to End Human Trafficking.  Several of my colleagues worked closely with these survivors for over three years, and have had a positive impact on the lives of those who claimed they were exploited by Alvarez and Del Carmen.  These professionals deserve our admiration for their dedication and compassion.

Identifying and rescuing victims of trafficking is not directly correlated to prosecutions, successful or otherwise.  In fact, far more individuals are provided services after being classified as victims of trafficking than are represented as victims in trafficking prosecutions.  So when we ask how many cases have been prosecuted, or how many traffickers have been sent to prison, we are only examining one component of our response, and it is the most difficult component in which to find success.  The good news is that the number of successful prosecutions related to human trafficking are  increasing.  But it will be many years before these prosecutions are viewed as routine.

“Free the slaves” is not just a call to action, it is also the best measure of our success.  If we focus on freeing those who are exploited, the successful prosecution of those who enslave will follow.  With time and dedication our efforts will be rewarded and, hopefully, the incidents of disappointment and frustration in cases like this one in San Jose will be fewer and farther between.

Black, White, and Shades of Gray: Slavery in America

Monday, April 11, 2011

I’m in Fresno today, instructing the Human Trafficking of Minors course for the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force.  A year ago the OCHTTF received a grant from the California Emergency Management Agency to create this course.  I was invited to be one of 50 “subject-matter experts” from the fields of law enforcement, victim services, legal aid, prosecution, and research, among others.  I now occasionally assist the OCHTTF in teaching the course.  So far this morning I’ve been discussing the broad range of circumstances that have led to an explosion of human trafficking, and misery, in the past twenty years around the globe and across our county.

We discuss globalization, economics, international migration, social factors, violence and, in particular, how children are exploited via the commercial sex trade, domestic servitude, and other forms of forced labor.  The lecture is filled with acronyms; CSEC, DMST, PTSD, TVPA, NGO, USAO, and the list goes on.  It can be a bit overwhelming for some, because today’s forms of slavery are complicated, often blurry, and require a broad skill set, and nuanced view, to detect.  Shades of gray run throughout our work.

Tomorrow will mark 150 years since the start of our nation’s Civil War, a conflict leading to the deaths of over 620,000 citizens.  More Americans died during the Civil War than in all our nation’s conflicts since.  The Civil War tested our nation’s resolve on two issues;  ”…that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

President Lincoln, speaking at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetary at Gettysburg, reminded his audience that our nation would not tolerate succession, nor slavery.   Great battles were fought, and lives were lost , to free the slaves.  The following year, 1865, passage of the 13th Amendment (legally) abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States.

Most Americans view slavery from this paradigm of black and white; it is the history of our country and how most of us learned about slavery.  Today, most Americans are shocked to learn that slavery still occurs in our country, and in much broader, complicated ways.  Teaching about slavery today, our discussions go beyond (figuratively speaking) black and white, to understanding federal and state laws, continuums of control and violence, Stockholm Syndrome, gender-bias, principles of supply and demand and economic elasticity.  It isn’t always easy to explain or, for anti-trafficking professionals, to integrate into our response to the trafficking of slaves.

Ultimately, these modern complications, these shades of gray, must be understood if we are ever to abolish slavery.  But 150 years ago Americans took up the fight because slavery was wrong.  It is still wrong.  And that is pretty black and white.

My Work in the Anti-Trafficking Community: 3 Things I Like

My role in the anti-trafficking movement, managing the San Jose Police Department’s Human Trafficking Task Force , keeps me very busy with an abundance of tasks and responsibilities.  Most people who meet me are surprised when they learn that I also have another role at the police department and that, in effect, I have two jobs.  From 2006 – 2010 I was assigned to our Vice Unit where my primary responsibility involved supervising alcohol and entertainment licensing within the city.  A year ago I was promoted, and assigned to manage our internal IT unit.  (In one of the mysteries of my career, I get to manage wonderful folks who know quite a lot about IT while I, in fact, know very, very little.) 

But from my first involvement with our anti-trafficking grant in the early months of 2006, I have really enjoyed the work!  When I took over responsiblity for the task force program I began to push harder (with the help of other dedicated abolitionists).  Building the program was like making a big snow ball; the more you push the bigger it grows, and as the workload increased I didn’t want to give up the work.  I expanded our capabilities by creating a specific HT Investigator assignment, and was lucky when the best possible person applied for the opening.  Officer Jenn Dotzler is amazing.  Together, along with more help from others, we continued to grow our capabilities, develop new partnerships, and respond to every training request we received.  

I’m committed to this work for the long haul.   I continue to look for new ways to make an impact on behalf of slaves.  My work, some of the most rewarding of my 24-years in law enforcement, is not always easy.  There are some things I dislike about my work.  But for today, I want to share 3 Things I Like!

1 – Being involved in a subject that is new to law enforcement.  If you don’t work in law enforcement, you cannot appreciate how rarely something really, truly, new comes into the field.  We get new equipment, we refine our skills, but to be given a role in a completely new area of response for law enforcement is extremely rare.  And then to be given the freedom (by my chief officers) and money (grant funding from the U.S. Department of Justice / Bureau of Justice Assistance) to create the program with a small dedicated team of professionals…well, that just never happens.  What a unique opportunity!

2 – Working to free slaves.  I was raised by parents who were proud of their country (they both served in the military during WWII) and the freedom America stands for.  I was always expected to treat others with respect, especially those that were less fortunate than I.  Like everyone else, I was appalled by what I learned when I began studying modern-day slavery.  Freedom is the greatest gift a person can have.  To have that freedom denied by traffickers is a moral outrage.  Feeling like I’ve done something at work to free a slave, well, that’s a pretty good feeling.

3 – The people.  I love the positive energy of committed abolitionists!

It is common knowledge that cynicism is a trait shared by every peace officer.  It is a part of our culture, ingrained into us from the first day of employment.  It keeps us safe, and sometimes it even keeps us alive.  But when we don’t really need the benefits of our cynicism, it just makes us grouchy, pessimistic, and spending too much time complaining about how things never change.

The people I work with in the anti-trafficking community are fun.  They bring a passion for justice, and the energy to match, to the everyday problems encountered in our fight against traffickers.  They look for new, inventive ways to collaborate, dream up powerful ideas to monitor and examine supply chains, reduce demand for the services of slaves, and, generally, are out to save the world.  What a noble idea.

Truth be told, most cops wanted to save the world when they entered police work.  I did.  But the cynicism starts to grow when you realize you really can’t save the world, and it can be terribly disappointing.  What to do?  Ask for help and you are often met with, you guessed it, more cynicism.  I decided if I couldn’t save the world, I would save my world one victim at a time.  That was manageable, and it allowed me to go home on occasion feeling like I’d had a good day at work.

But saving one slave at a time is too slow.  So we need the energy and passion of the modern-day abolitionist.  They bring intelligence, inquisitiveness, and a desire to understand why people treat so many others so badly.  But they bring it with a smile, a laugh, a gleam in their eye when they dream up a new way to help the cause.  These abolitionists are my friends and colleagues within government agencies, victim-service agencies, faith communities, and social entrepreneurs.  These people believe they can change the world.  And they make me think I can change the world, too.

And that is why I like them.

John

Freedom Summit Kicks Off! The Largest Anti-Trafficking Event Ever?

It’s nearing midnight and the opening night of Freedom Summit 2011 has concluded, but what a fantastic start!

Beautiful music by Sara Groves, followed by a touching and informative keynote address by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and closing with the Freedom Summit conference chair Betty Ann Boeving and Alameda County Assistant District Attorney Sharmin Bock busting human trafficking myths, the evening was a fine balance of passion, information, and vision for abolishing slavery.

But the best part of the evening was the crowd of approximately 1,700 individuals who committed to learning what they can do to fight trafficking.  I’m pretty sure the Freedom Summit has to be one of the largest anti-trafficking events ever.  The first Freedom Summit in 2009 surprised the organizers when over 800 people attended.  When the Bay Area Anti-Trafficking Coalition and Menlo Park Presbyterian Chuch decided to take on the reins of the Freedom Summit last summer, their goal was to double the attendance, and they have clearly succeeded. 

So what does it take to put something like the Freedom Summit together?  Money, of course, but more importantly it takes passionate volunteers who are willing to commit days, weeks, and months to bring the event to fruition.  The Freedom Summit team has been working very hard for months arranging all of the logistics, scheduling speakers, designing a conference handbook, handling registration, and more.  While I was not directly involved in any of this work, I was involved in a way that allowed me to see the dedication of the team.  Tonight, over 50 volunteers were on hand to make sure everything was running smoothly.  Tomorrow, when the breakout sessions begin and 1,700 attendees begin to move around the Harbor Light Fremont Christian School campus, only the preparation and dedication of the volunteers will keep everything running smoothly.

My point?  I am often asked how to get involved in the anti-trafficking community.  What roles need to be filled to fight slavery?  If I recommended getting a group of your friends together to take on the task of organizing an event for 1,700 people, it would probably not be well received.  This type of work does not entail personally assisting victims or locating and arresting traffickers, and will be exhausting, draining work outside the view of the public.  Yet this may be among the most valuable types of work anyone can do!

Every anti-trafficking practitioner will tell you the challenges of addressing an issue that by its very nature is hidden from view.  We lament that not enough people know slavery exists in their neighborhood, they don’t know how victims can be enslaved and, if they did, they don’t know what to do next.  So providing an opportunity for 1,700 people to gather, learn, and plant the seeds for future work, the organizers and volunteers of Freedom Summit 2011 will have a direct impact in rescuing trafficking victims.

Here is my personal message to everyone who is part of the Freedom Summit team: Some day soon, someone who learned something at the Freedom Summit will use that information to report a concern or suspicion to someone else, who will, in turn, rescue a trafficking victim and send a trafficker to prison.  A slave will be freed because you gave your time and energy to the cause of freedom.   You will deserve just as much credit as the investigator, prosecutor or victim-service provider.  In fact, you may deserve more credit.  Because awareness and education has to be the first step, and opportunities to learn are limited.

I applaud your passion and dedication.   Thank you for sacrificing your time and energy in the cause to abolish slavery.

Lastly, a public service announcement that we have been working on for almost two years (another story, for another blog post…) is up on Youtube.  Since it was just posted yesterday, it doesn’t yet appear when you search, but here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tw_rl8js810

I’ll write about our plans for this PSA later.

John

Human Trafficking Awareness Day: Success Through Collaboration

Yesterday was National Human Trafficking Awareness Day and I was fortunate to spend my day surrounded by professionals committed to ending slavery! 

The Bureau of Justice Assistance and the Office for Victims of Crime, who fund forty anti-trafficking task forces throughout the United States and Saipan, in 2009 developed a plan to conduct regional training forums to bring together task force representatives from geographical regions to share criminal intelligence, current case trends, best practices for task force operations and, most importantly, identification and care of trafficking victims.  By coincidence, January 11th and 12th were chosen as the meeting dates for over a dozen task forces from the western United States (Alaska, Hawaii, California, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado) and the Northern Mariana Islands (Saipan) to gather in San Jose.  I was surrounded by almost 150 professionals from local and Federal agencies involved in anti-trafficking operations. 

Over the two days we looked at various trafficking trends, shared our experiences and knowledge, and had detailed presentations on recent domestic servitude and commercial sex trafficking cases in the region.  It was an excellent two days, and successfully achieved the main goal of getting folks together who can collaborate on a regional level. 

It can never be stressed enough: human trafficking cases can be extremely complex and cannot be handled by one agency.  A multi-disciplinary team is the only way success can be achieved.  This theme, though already acknowledged by anti-trafficking professionals, was stressed in virtually every case which was debriefed, or as a way to overcome the myriad problems that can be encountered during an investigation.

The training forum was also used to launch the Anti-Trafficking Task Force Strategy and Operations E-Guide. 

The E-Guide was created by the Office for Victims of Crime – Training and Technical Assistance Center, with cooperation and input from a variety of persons and individuals.  The E-Guide was developed as a tool for any organization or task force (not necessarily federally funded) needing information about how to create a multi-agency response or adopt best practices.  (If you want some additional background on the development of the E-Guide, read my blog post from September 2009.) 

This is an incredible tool!  The guide addresses HT laws, task force formation, leadership, victim-services provision, (among other topics) and has a wide variety of links to additional information or examples of tools already in use.  Set aside some time and begin exploring the E-Guide! 

The E-Guide will give you the tools which will help you with your collaborative efforts; the key to ending slavery!

Human Trafficking in Fremont: A Multi-Disciplinary Success

Last week the FBI announced the sentencing of three suspects in Fremont, California on charges related to human trafficking.  The sentencing marked the end of an investigation launched in April 2009 after the victim fled the home of the suspects, where she had been forced to cook, clean and provide child care for a year after her arrival from China in 2008.

Just how many different agencies can be involved in a human trafficking investigation?  Let’s look at this case, since it provides an excellent example of a multi-disciplinary response.

The victim fled the suspects’ home and made contact with a citizen who, in turn, contacted the Fremont Police Department.  Three officers responded and initiated an investigation.  Since the victim did not speak English, the officers had to use a translation service so they could communicate with the victim.  In the written report, the officers never use the terms slavery, domestic servitude or human trafficking to describe what the victim had been experiencing, but the officers clearly knew they had come across an unusual situation and prepared an excellent police report.  

In a perfect world, the officers would have already received training on human trafficking and had a department or county protocol to follow, or known to contact a law enforcement agency or NGO (non-governmental organization) already involved in responding to human trafficking who could assist them.  I don’t fault the officers or the Fremont Police Department, since most local law enforcement agencies have not received training.  (There are many valid reasons for this being the current state of affairs, some of which I’ve written about previously.)  

So the officers did what all good police officers do in a situation like this; they clearly documented their investigation, and then looked for the best way to protect the victim.  They could not return the victim home, so they took her to a local hospital so her physical condition could be evaluated.  After being treated at the hospital, the victim – now a “survivor” – was placed in a shelter operated by an member-organization of the South Bay Coalition to End Human Trafficking.  It was this organization’s caseworker, and representative to the Coalition, who, reading the police report on the survivor’s experience, first recognized the case as potentially involving human trafficking. 

The Coalition and the San Jose Police Department Human Trafficking Task Force are partners in responding to human trafficking.  We are both funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, and are part a nation-wide, multi-disciplinary response to trafficking.  Wanting to verify the case was being criminally investigated, the caseworker phoned our office and spoke with my colleague, Officer Jenn Dotzler.  Jenn contacted the Fremont Police, obtained a copy of the initial police report and offered to coordinate passing the case onto our anti-trafficking partners at the United States Attorney’s Office. 

We have great relations with all of our Federal partners and, since we are a federally-funded task force, in cases involving foreign nationals our standard protocol is to get them involved as soon as possible.  Since this case was located outside our jurisdiction, we simply coordinated getting the case into the hands of the USAO.  The USAO, in turn, brought in ICE Investigations and the FBI to assist with the investigation.  The federal investigation moved quickly, with the suspects being indicted just weeks after the victim escaped.

Since April 2009 the victim has received aid from a variety of Coalition organizations, including immigration, housing, and language assistance.

(Several organizations comprise the membership of the South Bay Coalition to End Human Trafficking.  Since some of these agencies routinely protect and assist individuals who are victims of violent crimes, for the organizations’ security and the security of the individuals they assist I have chosen to only identify the law enforcement organizations involved in this case.)  

To summarize, this case involved two local police departments, three federal law enforcement agencies, one hospital, several victim service providers working in partnership through the Coalition, and the translation service used during the initial rescue of the victim.  I’m sure there are others I’m not mentioning.  And we should not forget the Good Samaritan citizen who did the right thing by contacting Fremont Police.  Everyone involved deserves credit for freeing a woman from slavery.

The strategy of the U.S. DOJ Anti-Human Trafficking program is to build multi-disciplinary teams with law enforcement and service providers working together with a victim-centered approach.  This approach works!  None of the agencies involved in this case could have succeeded on their own.  We need these connections.  We need people in our community who know what trafficking is , and we need the professionals to care for the rescued slaves.

This why many of us spend so much time working with other agencies, service providers, faith- and community-based organizations.  All of us want to make a difference.  And when a victim of crime, any crime, is given aid, and the perpetrators are brought to justice, it has been a very good day, indeed!

Our thanks and appreciation go out to the Frement officers who did a suburb job.  (Perhaps we will see you at Freedom Summit 2011).  On a routine day in April 2009, you did the right thing and it has made all the difference in the world for one human trafficking survivor!

John