Human Trafficking In Law Enforcement

Superior Essays
Human trafficking has been going on for centuries and has just recently become a major issue for law enforcement and policy makers. Many law enforcement agencies do not know how to respond to human sex trafficking because of a lack of knowledge and training. Police officers and policy makers continue to make changes on how to help victims of sex trafficking, but identifying these victims is an issue. Police officers do not know how to distinguish human trafficking from prostitution and many law enforcement agencies do not find human trafficking to be a relevant problem (Farrell, 2013). The victims of human trafficking are fearful of police officers because they are groomed by their pimp to believe that they will be sent back to their country …show more content…
There are some agencies that have special task forces focused on human trafficking, typically located in larger counties (Farrell, McDevitt &Fahy). It is important that chiefs and captains make sure they are receiving training as well as their officers, considering they are the individuals coming into contact with the public on a daily basis (Stolz, 2010). These leaders must be proactive when training their officers (Farrell, 2013). Of the agencies that have progressed in the last nine years, many agencies have focused on training and development (Farrell, 2013). The TVPA gives incentives to agencies that are willing to train their officers, such as more funding for their training program (Farrell, 2013). It is important that agencies embrace change by adopting new protocols and developing polices that must be implemented in order to drive results (Farrell, 2014). There are agencies that have seen positive results due to the changes they have implemented including: officers being able to identify victims of human trafficking, better interviews with victims, and prosecution (Stolz, 2010). There are agencies that have come up with ways to increase awareness of human trafficking in their states. According to Farrell, McDevitt and Fahy (2008), the federal government came up with a multi-state task force case study which would help in combating human …show more content…
According to Farrell (2014), most law enforcement agencies are not aware as to how to identify human trafficking and small agencies often are not prepared to handle the cases. States that have anti-trafficking laws have police leaders who lack knowledge of the TVPA legislation (Farrell, 2014). Farrell (2014) also notes that police agencies do not see human trafficking as an issue. The challenges that Farrell (2014) found were that only a small percentage of agencies provided training, other agencies developed units or special task force training to identify human trafficking. Without proper policies and procedures in place in street cops were unable to identify human trafficking (Farrell, 2014). Victims are unwilling to come forward, because they do not trust the police (Farrell, 2014). The lack of enforcement of the law has led to officers resisting change and a new ways of thinking (Farrell, 2014). There are outside influences that put pressure on police agencies to help make necessary changes when new laws are established (Farrell,

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