Image via Wikipedia The Quad-City Times | Posted: Sunday, January 16, 2011 2:00 am
A former Iowa state senator, local police and the Scott County Attorney have been interviewed in recent months as part of a national two-year study looking at human trafficking cases.
The study, funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, is looking at the challenges local, county and state officials face when investigating and prosecuting human trafficking cases.
It is being conducted by the Urban Institute Justice Policy Center in Washington, D.C., and professors from Northeastern University in Boston.
Maggie Tinsman, the former state senator who is leading a local effort to raise awareness about human trafficking, said Scott County is one of 12 counties nationwide being analyzed for the study.
"I'd like to know the results of the study," she said, noting she was interviewed for the study last fall.
Colleen Owens, a research associate with the Urban Institute, said the project began in October 2009, and the results should be released late this year or early in 2012.
In each county being studied, the researchers will identify all human trafficking cases investigated by local police between 2000 and 2008. They will analyze key factors in each case such as identification, classification, investigation, arrests, charging decisions, victim participation and case outcomes.
Tinsman, who introduced state legislation to allow local prosecution of human trafficking offenses, said three such cases have been prosecuted in Iowa, but none locally. Each involved runaway girls.
Tinsman thinks it was the legislation she introduced that resulted in the researchers choosing
Scott County as one of the locations to target in the study.
Davenport Police Chief Frank Donchez said he and a sergeant on his staff were interviewed a few months ago. The researchers asked about officer training on human trafficking, cases that might have involved trafficking and the difficulties in identifying them.
"Some of these cases, you're dealing with people who aren't even from this country," he said. "That's one of the tools traffickers use. (The victims) don't know anybody."
The traffickers threaten to harm the victim's family back home or hold their passport and identification, the chief said, adding there also can be a language barrier.
Scott County Attorney Mike Walton also was interviewed and asked about existing crimes, such as prostitution, that could have involved human trafficking. He said most of those cases involve local victims and defendants, however, and there often are many reasons people get involved in prostitution.
However, he thinks the study can be helpful.
"I think it's a good idea," Walton said. "I think more needs to be known."
Walton said most of the human trafficking reports he hears contain rumors or anecdotal evidence. The office has not prosecuted any local human trafficking cases because prosecutors haven't had any hard evidence for an investigation to even begin.
Both Walton and Donchez said they were asked about the Iowa 80 truckstop in Walcott, Iowa, and rumors that human trafficking goes on there.
"We have never had a case brought to the county attorney's office of human trafficking out of the truck stop," Walton said. "People say it exists. We've never seen any evidence even to rise to probable cause."
Efforts to reach a spokesperson for the truck stop for comment were not successful.
Walton said the biggest thing that can help local police and prosecutors go after cases of human trafficking is help from witnesses.
"If people know that trafficking is occurring, they need to contact law enforcement," he said. "Rumors don't form the basis of anything law enforcement can investigate."
Although there have been no prosecutions, Tinsman mentioned a couple of recent local incidents that add to her concern. In one, a teen girl who claimed to be trafficked was assisted by Family Resources and returned to her father in Wisconsin. In another, two high school students were approached by an individual on the Davenport skybridge, who claimed he wanted to buy them, Tinsman said.
Tinsman said local efforts to raise awareness about human trafficking continue. Law enforcement officials, clergy and medical professionals have been involved. Ideas include a class for middle and high school students about human trafficking and funding a shelter for victims of human trafficking.
Tinsman acknowledged the effort is moving slowly.
"It seems like a snail's pace to me, but we've proceeded on," she said.
SOURCE: The Quad-City Times
Scott County is part of national human trafficking study
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