3 minute read
Trafficking Signs
MTSU professor and student help inform law enforcement training to assist sex trafficking victims
When the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s Human Trafficking Unit gets a 3 a.m. call after a state trooper notices a possible sex trafficking victim, the person in that pulled-over vehicle may initially reject an agent’s help.
“You’re the police, and they’ve been groomed to hate you, and we’re there to take you away from what they’ve been told,” said Jeremy Lofquest, assistant special agent in charge of the unit.
But down the road, after receiving specialized assistance and therapies from service providers and programs, such victims sometimes return to express their gratitude and tell of their changed lives. “You’re seeing someone get their whole life back on track that you don’t get to see in a lot of other criminal investigations,” Lofquest said.
Helping law enforcement throughout the state identify, rescue, and assist sex trafficking victims is an impetus for a research project launched by MTSU’s Rachel Davis, a Sociology assistant professor, and student Melissa Guinn. A first-generation student and senior majoring in the new Cybersecurity Management program, Guinn aspires to apply her skills to tracking online predators and hopes to also start a nonprofit for victim advocacy.
While taking Davis’ Sex Trafficking course, she asked Davis about collaborating on a project. The professor suggested using hypothetical vignettes to survey law enforcement across the state, similar to her own planned research about people’s perceptions of campus sexual assault.
“I decided that I wanted to focus on law enforcement’s perceptions because how they think of not only the victim but the scenario itself plays a part into the justice and the help that that victim is going to receive,” Guinn said.
The two developed vignettes about sexual assault and sex trafficking to help illuminate any concerns about officers’ training, recognition of situations, and specific challenges. They plan to present detailed findings to the TBI soon, particularly related to runaway youth. They recently shared some preliminary results at the American Society of Criminology and the Southern Sociological Society—and are seeking grants to expand the project nationally.
“We’re really hopeful that this can highlight blind spots in law enforcement’s training related to sex trafficking and can highlight ways that we can strengthen our cultural response to sex trafficking and not just rely on law enforcement,” Davis said.
In each of the past two years, the TBI’s Human Trafficking Unit received approximately 1,300 tips and leads for human trafficking (including labor trafficking), all checked out by analysts and its nine agents. It had seen 30% yearover-year growth several years previously.
Law enforcement agencies in Tennessee may receive training on the topic from others that is well-intentioned and -designed. But the TBI wants to offer local officers information relevant especially to Tennessee. The agency welcomes Davis and Guinn’s research to gain feedback from subject experts that can be used in law enforcement training, as well as to increase public awareness.
—Carol Stuart
