Human Trafficking Task Force holds first 2023 meeting

The Southern Nevada Human Trafficking Task force held its first meeting of 2023 Wednesday afternoon at Metro Headquarters. The task force is an awareness and prevention resource fair, open to the public, which includes state, local and federal law enforcement, along with representatives from the hotel industry and victims' resources.

According to RISE program director Brittany Hopballe, human trafficking is a difficult problem to address because it involves more than one crime. “It is so complex. Human trafficking involves so many different crimes that happen to that victim,” she said. “Whether it's labor or sex, more often than not, they experience various different sexual violence committed against them.”

And while concerns have been raised recently about human trafficking victims being smuggled across the southern border, Hopballe says that's not necessarily the case. “More often than not, victims, especially children, are recruited in their own home neighborhood – in their own city,” she said. “These traffickers are here in our neighborhoods and they are identifying our children, and our vulnerable adults, and exploiting them.”

Nevada's U.S. Attorney, Jason Frierson, says it's the reason Wednesday's task force meeting is so important, so advocates and law enforcement agencies can share ideas, especially since Nevada has challenges other states don't face. “It is difficult in a state where prostitution is legal in parts of the state,” he said. “It's an attractive endeavor for some of those bad actors, but it also means we have to distinguish between sex workers and human trafficking. They are different, and one of our focuses in the Department of Justice is human trafficking, whether it's sex trafficking of minors, or immigrants.”

Frierson says he's encouraged by the efforts made by the task force, and says it's important to in raising awareness to tackle the problem. “This is a continuation of an effort to collaborate with partners and make sure you are communicating with even non-traditional partners. We need to expand and talk to our resorts, the professional sports venues, to talk with Uber and Lyft drivers and cab drivers. We need to create a network that we can all exchange information, and the more related to that, the more we can provide information to potential victims.”

More federal funding is also being earmarked in 2023 to step up the effort. According to Hopballe, “half of the grant is for Victim Services. The other half is for law enforcement. And really just taking that proactive approach like what we saw in the stats and identifying traffickers, and having that victim centered approach where victims aren't pulled into the process as much as possible with law enforcement until they're ready,” she said. “So that is something that Metro has been amazing at identifying traffickers and moving forward.”