THE NORTH TEXAS HUMAN TRAFFICKING DATABASE The Embrey Foundation Contracted Equip the Saints to...
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Transcript of THE NORTH TEXAS HUMAN TRAFFICKING DATABASE The Embrey Foundation Contracted Equip the Saints to...
THE NORTH TEXAS HUMAN TRAFFICKING DATABASE
The Embrey Foundation
Contracted Equip the Saints to build the North Texas Human Trafficking Database
Specified the focus of the database to be mainly the Dallas-Fort Worth area
The North Texas Human Trafficking Database (NTHTD)
A listing of organizations and individuals who engage in anti-human trafficking initiatives in North Texas.
The work being done
Insight into the gaps in local anti-trafficking efforts
InterviewsThree types of anti-human trafficking entities were interviewed via telephone:
• 24 Nonprofit organizations: Founders or Executive Directors if possible
• 13 Law enforcement agencies: Specific departments engaging in anti-human trafficking work
• 16 Researchers and activists: Publishing on human trafficking issues or involved in anti- human trafficking activism apart from nonprofit organization
Questionnaires
Equip the Saints, with the assistance of specialists in each area, created specific questionnaires for the three focus groups
Data gathered from the three focus groups included contact person, geographic location, area(s) of work, activities, specific needs, and recommendations for further steps to end human trafficking
Coverage
Equip the Saints identified North Texas as roughly consisting of the following counties:
•Bosque •Erath •Johnson •Rockwall •Collin •Henderson •Kaufman •Somervell•Cooke •Hill •Montague •Tarrant•Dallas •Hood •Navarro •Van Zandt•Denton •Hunt •Palo Pinto •Wise•Ellis •Grayson •Parker•Fannin •Jack •Rains
Nonprofit Organizations
Nonprofit Organizations (NPOs)
24 nonprofit organizations were interviewed. • The majority works primarily in the North
Texas area
• Some work on a national or global scale in addition to working in North Texas
Main Activities
Advocacy
Awareness
Conferences
Counseling
Demand-reduction programs
Educational curriculum
Empowerment activities
Fundraising activities
Grant making
Internship programs
Job training
Legal services
Main Activities
Life skills programs
Mentoring
Networking
Outreach
Providing shelter for vicitims
ResearchSocial servicesTransitional living assistanceVolunteer mobilization
Activity Focus
Most engaged in the supply-side of human trafficking: work with victims and inform public about human trafficking activity
Demand-side (reduction) activities include awareness in high-risk areas, educational seminars, funding for research, and literature
Gaps in Coverage
Gaps in the coverage of human trafficking initiatives mentioned by NPOs include:
• Help for minors
• Education for first responders and for law enforcement
• More emergency shelters
• Funding
• Survivor-centered service providers
• Street gang intervention
Gaps in Coverage
Foster Care System for reformHomelessness issuesGreater partnerships between organizationsTraining for public utility personnel (to identify potential victims)Immigration resourcesWork in immigrant and minority communities and with prostitutesVictim restorationFocus on the demand side of human trafficking
Needs
The main resource needs of NPOs: • Housing for human trafficking victims
• Better technology
• Finances
• Research
• Translation services
• Volunteers
Policy Change Suggestions
Policy chances suggested by NPOs include:
• Decriminalization of victims
• Better and mutually-defined terms
• More research-oriented work to inform policy
Law Enforcement Agencies
Law Enforcement Agencies
Equip the Saints interviewed: • 6 police departments: Arlington, Dallas, Lewisville, Plano,
Red Oak, Sherman and Wiley • 3 sheriff departments: Collin County, Dallas County,
and Denton County • ICE/Homeland Security Investigations • The Office of the Attorney General of Texas • SAFVIC (Sexual Assault family Violence Investigator
Course) and TRIPLE (Training and Research Institute for Professional Law Enforcement)
A number of other law enforcement agencies in North Texas were also contacted
Highlights
Equip the Saints’ interviewers found that:
• Some of the agencies stated that they targeted human trafficking
• Departments handling human trafficking include Vice/Narcotics, Covert Operations, Child Exploitation Unit, the North Texas Trafficking Task Force (NTTTF), and Human Trafficking Unit
Highlights
• The majority of these had little experience in dealing with trafficked individuals
• Few agencies were targeting prostitution or had guidelines in place to handle minors in prostitution
• Most agencies worked with other North Texas law enforcement agencies and a few worked with non-law enforcement agencies (NPOs)
Highlights
• Only one agency was working under a grant
• A few of the agencies focused on sex trafficking while the majority had no specific focus
• The smaller law enforcement agencies had no experience in or guidelines for dealing with human trafficking
Needs
Needs of law enforcement agencies to assist with human trafficking
• Full-time personnel dedicated to human trafficking
• Translation and interpretation services
• Training
•Database of services for vicitms
•Services for placing trafficked children
Research and Advocacy
Researchers/Activists
Equip the Saints interviewed:
•16 activists
• 8 of them also identified themselves as researchers currently focusing on human trafficking
• Most of them were actively involved with one or more nonprofit organizations
Research Topics
Current research topics include: • Community needs • Historical information • White collar crime • Foreign diplomats’ use of domestic forced
labor • How to keep workers from being overwhelmed when working with trafficked victims
Research Topics
• Aftercare for victims
• Domestic trafficking
• High-risk juveniles
• U.S./Mexico border trafficking
Gaps in Research
This group noted gaps in human trafficking research including:
• Logistics to stop new traffickers
• Family members of victims
• Supply and demand in the area of forced labor and economics
• Stopping trafficking as a global epidemic
Gaps In Research
• Sex trafficking demand solutions• Victim amnesty• Human trafficking as a national (U.S.) problem• Relationship between prostitution and human
trafficking• Faith-based and spiritual impact on human
trafficking• Human trafficking among tribal and minority groups• Lack of dissemination of information
Activists
Activists were involved in many different initiatives including: • Work with carious anti-human trafficking and violence-reduction task forces and coalitions • Work with DNA Prokids • Prevention • Education • Outreach/Awareness • Aftercare • Legal services • Song writing
Policy Change Suggestions
Policy changes suggested by researchers and activists include:
• Law enforcement training
• Teaching youth alternatives to the streets
• Dealing with demand for sex trafficking
• Definition of terms
• Policies that embrace the faith community
Policy Change Suggestions
• Victim amnesty
• Licensing guidelines for residential homes
• Federal funding for safe houses
• Legal and social services for victims