DEPARTMENT: Police
DEPARTMENT HEAD: William P. McManus, Chief of Police
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: Citywide
SUBJECT:
Human Trafficking Update
SUMMARY:
In recognition of Human Trafficking Awareness Month, the SAPD will highlight the adverse impact that human trafficking has in the local community and nationally while also providing residents with information on how to recognize and report suspected human trafficking. In addition, the Department continues to work in coordination with various State and Federal law enforcement agencies to investigate and reduce human trafficking. The Enhanced Collaborative Model to Combat Human Trafficking Grant will provide the SAPD with additional resources to improve investigative efforts and victim services.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Investigations
The SAPD has two detectives assigned to the FBI Human Trafficking Task Force. Human Trafficking victims are typically moved by their traffickers from city to city and across state lines. Therefore, the majority of SAPD cases involving Human Trafficking are filed as Federal cases with the U.S. Attorney's Office. The table below details the number of Human Trafficking cases since 2014:
Year
Investigations
Victims
Suspects
2014
50
58
51
2015
46
28
29
2016
38
43
50
TOTAL
134
129
130
In 2014, 16 officers attended Homeland Security Investigations Task Force Officer Cross Designation Training which focused primarily on human trafficking and narcotics training and met minimum requirements to receive cross-designation as Customs Officers. TFOs can be assigned to an HSI group or taskforce on an on-call, part-time or full time basis. The SAPD is a member of the STOP (South Texas Officers and Prosecutors) Human Trafficking Task Force and the Alamo Area Coalition Against Human Trafficking.
Partnerships have also been established with various government agencies such as: Bexar County Juvenile Probation, the Bexar County District Attorney's Office, the Department of Publ...
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