$500K grant bolsters QC trafficking crackdown – Yahoo News

Apr. 24—Driven by a sharp spike in calls related to human trafficking, the Queen Creek Police Department has hired a detective to focus solely on those cases and it is getting nearly $500,000 from the state to do it.

“Over the past year, QCPD has handled more than 600 criminal cases involving crimes or situations that involved some sort of physical or sexual abuse,” a department presentation to Town Council said.

“This included a number of cases associated with human trafficking.”

The town has received a grant of $463,339 to pay for the detective, training and a vehicle through the end of 2025 from the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs Department.

Cases include any crime involving domestic violence, sexually based crimes, kidnapping or unlawful imprisonment and cybercrimes.

The detective will earn $282,019 in salary and benefits over the three-year grant period and the remainder will be used for training and a vehicle. The detective's primary objectives will involve “investigations involving child sex trafficking and rapid recovery of victims. Human trafficking prevention and partnerships with non-government organizations, and training and education on human trafficking,” the report said.

“We are appreciative of the grant funds from the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs,” Queen Creek Police Chief Randy Brice said in an email.

“As a new department, we are continuously seeking opportunities to provide the best level of service to the community while being mindful of costs. This funding allows us to add an additional detective that will help investigate human and sex trafficking cases, which are often complex and require time and unique skill sets.”

Brice has said more than 40% of the caseload managed by the department's investigative section is made up of these types of victim cases.

He has said previously that the biggest problem his investigators have is gaining the trust of someone who has been involved in a domestic dispute, sexual assault or human trafficking case — often because they are underage runaways who distrust law enforcement.

They are also often lied to by their trafficker who tells the victim that if they go to the police, the victim will be arrested, which is not true.

Queen Creek could be at a heightened risk for underage trafficking cases because of a state juvenile facility in town.

“Queen Creek is the home to a large juvenile group home that houses over 300 children who are either in DCS custody, are unaccompanied minors-refugees, children on probation, and/or sex trafficking survivors who are there on therapeutic placement,” the report said.

The council report said these children, who are from all over the country, are often victimized again by traffickers when they run away.

The report said taking proactive steps to reduce the number of juveniles who escape from the facility is one way to address sex trafficking in Queen Creek.

“Research has shown that children in DCS custody and undocumented children are at a significantly higher risk of being victims of child sex trafficking.

“A HT detective could work proactively with the group home and the children who reside there to develop safety plans, reporting procedures, and programs to reduce the number of runaways,” the

report said.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reports receiving approximately 1,500 cases each year involving missing children reportedly involved in sex trafficking.

The agency said almost 75% of those children were in the care of social services when they went missing.

Since QCPD became operational just over a year ago, investigators have responded to 112 runaway calls at the juvenile group home, according to police.

The report said an officer devoted full-time to anti-trafficking activities will train other officers to recognize signs of abuse and trafficking, and work within the community to create safe zones for runaways and other at-risk children.

“This is important as Queen Creek is a rural community and having a safe place a child can go to ask for help will reduce the chances of them ending up as a victim of child sex trafficking,” the report said. “These places often include hospitals and fire stations.”

The town also plans to use approximately $60,000 of the grant money to buy a vehicle designed to be sure that the human trafficking victim, already wary of police, will not feel targeted by the officer arrives on the scene to help.

Investigators will keep so-called hope bags with clothing and hygiene products for victims inside the vehicle, as well.

“Most recovered trafficked victims wear clothes purchased for them by the trafficker and are not age appropriate,” the report said. “

This vehicle will allow the victim to feel comfortable and help reassure them they are not the suspect in the investigation,” it said.

“This vehicle will not have any police markings, equipment, enclosure, or other intimidating features,” the council report said.

The money for the Queen Creek anti-human trafficking detective was allocated in AZ HB 2862, which appropriates $8-million in grants to city, town and county law enforcement agencies in an amount of not more than $500,000 per agency to battle human trafficking, according to the Department of Emergency and Military Affairs.

It is not part of a federal grant.

“It is DEMA's intent to support the state's anti-human trafficking efforts and use their expertise to support local efforts to reduce human trafficking,” the state department said.

To date, the Arizona Department of Public Safety has been allocated $2-million to invest in anti-trafficking measures, and nine municipalities have applied for the grant. The DEMA report does not specify which towns or cities.