MCSO and ASU Partnership Helps Identify Sex Trafficking Victims

PHOENIX — More than 300 Maricopa County Sheriff's Office personnel received training on sex trafficking through a partnership with Arizona State University's Office of Sex Trafficking Intervention Research.

The two organizations worked together to develop training specifically designed for prisons called “Sex Trafficking Behind Bars,” which focuses on identifying victims of trafficking and crimes within prison complexes.

“This has given us the opportunity to be proactive, not only to train and educate our own personnel, both in the prison system and in the field, to investigate these types of crimes, but also to identify these victims ” said Sheriff Russ Skinner of the MCSO. a press conference.

In 2023, a tablet-based screening tool designed to help identify potential trafficking victims was used for the first time at Estrella Prison, an all-women's prison in Phoenix.

Since July 1, 191 inmates have completed screening and have been identified as victims. More than 100 of them were interviewed by an anti-trafficking liaison officer and connected with community service providers. Additionally, the Arizona Human Trafficking Tip Line received nearly 200 phone calls from MCSO prisons, and four inmates were placed in homes for trafficking survivors.

“What we want to do is help them get out of this cycle, break this cycle and rehabilitate them, offer them services, so they can have a normal life, a normal family,” added Skinner.

Since 2019, 10 traffickers have been handed over to detectives after being identified through tablet activity.

The Yavapai County Sheriff's Office and the Arizona Department of Corrections are two agencies that have received the “Sex Trafficking Behind Bars” training, and it has also been featured at larger industry events, such as the RISS Western States Conference and the Arizona Human Trafficking Summit 2023.

It will also be featured at JailCon 2024 starting Monday in Chandler and at this year's Human Trafficking Summit in Arizona in September.

Self-help classes will also be provided to inmates to help them deal with any related trauma.

The partnership received its funding from an AZDEMA Anti-Human Trafficking grant, which provides $495,000 over three years. The grant funds the partnership itself as well as the recruitment of a dedicated investigator and a location in the East Valley where victims are interviewed.

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