This is the first submitted draft of my Advocacy Project. It was not a successful draft as I focused on addressing the problem of lack of training instead of advocating for ideal training methods.

My introduction was too overwhelming as I tried to squeeze all the background information of human trafficking and the problems of the TVPA 2000 all in one paragraph. As you can see, my introduction clearly needs paragraph breaks instead of looking like a big block of information.

Start small, End Tall

            Human trafficking is a form of modern slavery where people profit from the control and exploitation of others.  Traffickers use violence, threats, deception, debt bondage, and other manipulative tactics to trap victims in horrific situations every day in America (The Polaris Project). Almost no country is immune to the global phenomenon of human trafficking. Between 600,000 and 800,000 victims are trafficked across international borders annually (U.S. DOS, 2007). Trafficking in persons includes sexual trafficking as well as various types of forced labor and slavery related practices. As the most developed nation in the world, with a very strong market-based economy, the United States is widely considered the major destination of victims of human trafficking (Bump & Duncan, 2003; Chuang, 2006). Estimates of trafficking victims in the United States are conservative and inaccurate because of methodological weaknesses, gaps in data collection, and numerical discrepancies (GAO, 2006). As a result, The United States has played a leading role in the past years in the global fight against human trafficking through its legislation, namely, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) (U.S. Congress, 2000) and the subsequent reauthorizations of 2003, 2005, and 2008. Prevention, protection, and prosecution are the elements of the three “P”s guiding framework for the implementation of the federal trafficking policy (U.S. DOS, 2007). The prevention provisions include the implementation of educational and public awareness programs. The protection provisions allow trafficking victims to be certified to receive federally funded services and benefits to the same extent as refugees. Most importantly, the TVPA allows victims to benefit from the T-Visa, which provides temperate residency for the victims and survivors and their family and eligibility to apply for permanent residency after three years. Under the prosecution provisions, the federal legislation has created new law enforcement tools to strengthen the prosecution of traffickers. Yet, the TVPA has proven to be inefficient as out of the 50,000 women and children that are trafficked into the United States every year for sexual exploitation, only 228 victims received benefits under the TVPA in 2005 (Harvard Journal of Law and Gender). Also, according to Creighton Law Review, nine years after the initiation of the TVPA of 2000, compared to the tens of thousands of victims that are still illegally transported into the United states on a yearly basis, only 1,300 trafficking victims had benefitted from the "T-Visa" status. The reason lies within the certification process, where law enforcement fails to identify the victims due to insufficient knowledge of the hidden nature of human trafficking and requiring mandatory assistance of the victims through the investigation and prosecution of the traffickers. As a result, the only way to improve the efficiency of government efforts to combat human trafficking is to train and educate law enforcement officers about the complex structure of human trafficking. Also, the problem of human trafficking is too complex to be managed only at the federal level. State and local governments as well as community and nonprofit organizations play an important part in the general efforts to tackle this social problem.

          To identify the main targets to improve for law enforcement agencies, many perspectives of human trafficking are to be surveyed and analyzed. According to Police Practice and Research, conducted by Deborah G. Wilson, William F. Walsh & Sherilyn Kleuber,on 163 county police department, seven items were included in the survey to measure departmental perceptions concerning human trafficking. These items were designed to identify where, geographically, a department believed human trafficking was an issue, whether or not human trafficking would be an issue in the future, and who was in the best position to address human trafficking. The research showed almost half of the police agencies about 46% believed trafficking in human beings was a problem within their region of the United State and slightly fewer, about 40%, believed trafficking in human beings was a problem within their state. However, while 35% viewed trafficking as a problem for local law enforcement agencies, only 18% believed it was a problem within their own jurisdiction and only 12% believed it was a significant issue for their department. The perceptions were then that, while it might be a problem for ‘other’ law enforcement agencies, it was not a problem for the reporting agency themselves. Consistent with the attitude that this was not really a local law enforcement problem (61%), the majority of agencies (72%) believed that trafficking in human beings was ‘best addressed by federal law enforcement. Here is where the main problem arises, as local states assumes the responsibility of human trafficking ties down with only federal level law enforcements and fails to recognize and take action themselves.

            Along with assuming little responsibility for human trafficking, these police departments showed a great lack of knowledge as well. Four items were included in the survey to assess departmental perceptions of the types of perpetrators of human trafficking operations. Research showed most of the respondents about 75% agreed that transnational organized crime networks perpetrated human trafficking and about 64% agreed that large national organized crime networks were the perpetrators of human trafficking operations. Only about 41% of departments believed that local organized crime networks perpetrate human trafficking and only 39% reported the belief that individuals without organized crime connections were perpetrators of human trafficking operations. These findings suggest that the local law enforcement perception of the perpetrators of human trafficking is limited and may be more reflective of the sensationalized, media representation than reality. The local law enforcement agencies were more likely to report that transnational organized crime more often than other forms of criminal ‘organizations’ and/or individuals without organized crime connections committed this crime.

            These local police departments showed inadequacy in their training of engaging human trafficking as well. Several items were included in the survey to determine if departments conducted or received training related to trafficking in human beings. Overall, only seven agencies about 8% reported they had conducted or received training in human trafficking. While very few departments conducted/received human trafficking training, the majority of departments about 96% did receive/conduct training in domestic violence and a slight majority about 55% participated in training on immigration laws and issues. While both immigration law training and domestic violence training can contain some information related to trafficking in human beings, the vast majority of agencies in this sample about 92% had not participated in any specialized training related to this crime. The average number of domestic violence training hours received by the total of 80 departments reporting participation in this type of training was 18 and the average number of training hours received in the 46 departments reporting immigration training was 4.4. Of the seven departments participating in human trafficking training, the average length of training was 2.5 hours.

            Local law enforcement officers in the USA, because of the nature of their function, will most likely be the first officers to come in contact with victims of human trafficking. However, the findings of this research indicate that they are ill prepared to recognize human trafficking victims or investigate this emerging crime problem. Recent analysis of this subject indicates that these victims are hiding in plain sight but local police usually don’t know trafficking when they see it. Further, that the operating attitude of US police is that women who sell their bodies do so by choice and undocumented foreign women are both prostitutes and trespassers in the USA (Landesman, 2003). Our findings indicate that local police agencies view trafficking as a problem ‘elsewhere’ and for ‘other’ law enforcement agencies. Consistent with the attitudes that this was not really a local law enforcement problem (61%), the majority of agencies (72%) believed that trafficking in human beings is ‘best addressed by federal law enforcement.’ These findings suggest that the local law enforcement perception of the perpetrators of human trafficking is limited and may be more reflective of the sensationalized, media portrayal than reality in that local law enforcement agencies were more likely to report that this crime was committed by transnational organized crime than other forms of criminal ‘organizations’ and/or individuals without organized crime connections. Most law enforcement agencies are unaware of the true nature of trafficking. Related to the lack of knowledge about the crime of trafficking, the findings indicate that the majority of the responding departments did not have specific policy, procedures, and training addressing human trafficking. And, while 19 of the departments had investigated human trafficking and 14 had also made arrests, the majority of those departments engaged in human trafficking investigations (63%) and related arrests (64%) had not participated in training related to this crime. Currently, the data reflect little direct responsibility for the issue of human trafficking. Trafficking is a global issue and, while some progress has been made, local law enforcement needs to join the ‘global community’ and actively participate in the interdiction and prevention of trafficking in human beings. Specifically, local law enforcement should establish policies and procedures and training related to trafficking in human beings. Law enforcement executive leadership establishes agency direction through policy and procedures. These are then reinforced through training. Only after the US police departments make this a priority and provide their officers with accurate information concerning the nature and characteristics of human trafficking will police officers understand the severity and implications of trafficking and the critical role they play in addressing this crime. While, clearly, local law enforcement needs to take ‘ownership’ of this problem, the nature of trafficking and its victims creates a need to form varied partnerships in strategies to address this crime. Local and federal law enforcement, victims support groups, local and federal prosecutors, and social service representatives need to Police Practice and Research: An International Journal 159 formulate coalitions, task forces, coordinated community responses that will provide for the most effective way in which to address this crime and to assist the victims of this crime. Several specialized national agencies such as the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST) can be called upon to assist in identifying the participants in these coalitions as well as providing materials and support for training and policy development.