Challenges

One challenge entailed in an appropriate law enforcement response to commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors is that, as noted in Section 1, law enforcement professionals can find it challenging to view behavior by youth that is technically criminal (prostitution) as part of the victimization of youth by the perpetrators of a more serious crime (commercial sexual exploitation or trafficking) [3]. Still, an increasing number of police departments are moving away from arresting young victims suspected of engaging in prostitution and focusing on investigating exploiters and traffickers [4, 5, 6].

A second challenge is that law enforcement professionals often find it difficult to identify minors involved in commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking. In addition to such indicators as not having control over identification or travel documents, makeshift living quarters, and frequent movements, they are likely to rely on an individual's demeanor (acting fearful or noncooperative) to identify trafficking victims. Yet lack of victim cooperation is common in trafficking cases [3, 7]. For one thing, youth involved in sex trafficking often do not identify themselves as crime victims [4], which may make them hesitant to cooperate with police investigations, and many officers report challenges in communicating with victims [7, 8]. Adolescents of color in particular often do not trust the legal system, believing that members of their racial/ethnic group will not be treated fairly [9]. Some police agencies and officers have responded to this hesitation to cooperate by detaining youth to ensure their cooperation [10, 11, 12, 13]. However, secure detention deprives youth of opportunities that are vital to their healthy development [9] and can be an additional trauma [12, 14, 15].

Still another challenge is that law enforcement professionals may not recognize commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors as pressing criminal offenses [16]. Indeed, many law enforcement professionals, especially those in smaller agencies and those whose agency is not involved in a task force devoted to this issue, do not identify these crimes as a problem affecting their communities.

Noteworthy Approaches

Police agencies can take several steps to overcome the above challenges. The first is for them to train their personnel to recognize the existence and seriousness of commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors in the United States, identify victims, and respond appropriately. The Chicago Police Department, for example, provides roll-call training to its line officers to alert them to the fact that victims can be found in a variety of settings, such as massage parlors, brothels, escort services, and strip clubs, not just on the street [17]. And in Dallas, each of the 3,700 officers in the police department has received 3 hours of training in how to recognize and to identify children and adolescents most likely to become victims of these crimes [4]. Training in identifying victims is also available online, offered, for example, by Polaris Project [18] and the Department of Homeland Security [19].

In addition, training helps officers feel confident in carrying out a well-conducted investigation. Absent such training, law enforcement professionals often feel unprepared to initiate an investigation into commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors [7], and such investigations are therefore unlikely to be conducted [8]. Training is particularly valuable to equip law enforcement investigators to work with prosecutors to pursue cases against exploiters that are “victim-driven, not victim-built,” or evidence-based [5, 20]. For such evidence-based approaches to work, law enforcement investigators must be aware of techniques that can be used to gather additional evidence so that cases are not completely dependent on victim testimony (see the discussion on page 16).

Finally, training can equip officers to better understand the roles of victim services and federal law enforcement in trafficking investigations, and to make appropriate referrals for services.

Beyond training, additional steps that police agencies can take include dedicating a unit or personnel to deal with human trafficking cases [3] and developing policies or protocols for handling such cases [3, 7]. Participation in human trafficking task forces, mentioned above and discussed in greater detail in Section 6, also increases the likelihood that an agency will investigate and appropriately handle cases of commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors.

Finally, state and local law enforcement agencies can use several approaches to intervene with perpetrators of commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors and gather corroborative evidence for criminal cases so as to minimize the reliance on victims' cooperation and testimony. Investigations undertaken by the Boston Police Department's Human Trafficking Unit, for example, focus on holding the buyers of sex accountable by conducting undercover stings and by reaching out to hotels where commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors are taking place [5]. In Chicago, police work closely with staff from the Salvation Army's STOP-IT program, who accompany them on investigations and help manage street outreach to victims when a “takedown” occurs. Investigators monitor calls to victims and others made by exploiters and traffickers from jail and report that some of their strongest evidence comes from these recordings. They also use wiretaps to gather evidence against buyers, traffickers, and exploiters under an Illinois law that specifically allows use of this technique in these investigations [21, 22, 23]. Other possible sources of evidence include

• journals, letters, and other written communications between victims and traffickers;
• information in police records regarding traffic stops involving victims and traffickers;
• website ads, including BackPage or Craigslist postings;
• bond receipts (useful in cases in which a trafficker may have bailed out the victim);
• credit card records and receipts;
• cell phones with walkie-talkie functions and chirp phones that can connect a victim to the trafficker;
• data on cell phones that may show text or voice messages between victims and traffickers;
• pretext or “one-party consent” recordings in appropriate cases;
• photos of injuries, tattoos, or other branding of victims by traffickers;
• clothing, jewelry, or other items provided to victims by traffickers;
• careful documentation of the content and circumstances of out-of-court statements made by victims; and
• financial records, electronic or otherwise, that may provide evidence of money laundering or a “financial footprint” indicating suspicious or criminal activity [17, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26].

All of these sources are used to reduce reliance on victims' cooperation and testimony to build and prove cases against traffickers and suggest areas for specialized training of law enforcement investigators.