Data recently published by the Fort Worth Police Department shows a significant year-over-year rise in human trafficking incidents, as well as a hardening stance against them by law enforcement.
The department’s latest third-quarter report noted a 21.1% hike in human trafficking cases logged between January and September compared to last year. A total of 23 incidents had been clocked in 2023 compared to 19 in 2022 over the same period.
Buddy Calzada, a Fort Worth Police Department (FWPD) spokesperson, claimed that the increase was a good sign because it shows that investigations into such illicit activity are paying off.
Leading the charge is FWPD’s six-person human trafficking unit, which was first created as a task force in 2005 after multiple trafficking victims were discovered by authorities within the city.
“You know, they’re running operations where they’re catching human traffickers, they’re saving kids,” Calzada said, according to NBC 5 DFW. “They’re out there on the streets and going to specific hotels running details to save lives.”
A two-day operation in September coordinated with the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and the FBI led to the rescue of a 16-year-old girl from an alleged sex trafficker,19-year-old Keith Sentmore. The suspect was allegedly linked to the sex trafficking of 16 minors in total, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Non-profit groups like Traffick911 and New Friends, New Life — which often collaborate with law enforcement — have been instrumental in providing advocacy services not only to trafficking victims after the fact but in raising awareness to prevent such crimes from occurring.
“The online grooming is really the entry point for the trafficker to groom and get the lines of communication open with an unsuspecting teen girl,” explained Bianca Davis, CEO of New Friends, New Life, speaking with NBC 5.
Davis suggested that parents should play an important role in prevention, first by monitoring their children’s online connections and second by making sure children know they are safe at home no matter what.
“We encourage parents to keep that line of communication open to let their child know there is absolutely nothing that they can do that would make them turn their back on them,” Davis added.
Texas policymakers have enhanced several criminal penalties to help deter traffickers.
For instance, child grooming was recently upgraded to a felony offense with the passing of SB 1527. The law defines the grooming of a minor as when an adult “knowingly persuades, induces, entices, or coerces, or attempts to persuade, induce, entice, or coerce” a minor to engage in conduct of a sexual nature.
Similarly, criminal penalties for the online solicitation of minors, human trafficking, and prostitution have been raised by SB 1831 and SB 4, as previously covered by The Dallas Express.
The trafficking issue has also been evident in Dallas, where 49 incidents have been logged in the City’s crime analytics dashboard as of December 1. Prostitution offenses have also skyrocketed, jumping to 549 for a 108.7% increase year over year. As covered by The Dallas Express, the majority of such offenses have been logged in Council Member Omar Narvaez’s District 6, which comprises the northwestern part of the City.
The Dallas Police Department has struggled to allocate resources to the illicit sex trade due to chronic short staffing. It currently has only around 3,000 officers on patrol, even though a City analysis recommends a force of roughly 4,000 to maintain public safety properly.
Downtown Dallas has been seriously affected by the staffing situation, routinely clocking higher crime rates than Fort Worth’s downtown area. The latter is patrolled by a designated police unit alongside private security guards.