Pretty soon, alongside the Super Bowl 50 news stories about playoff statistics or the price of ads, there will be stories with a darker side. They will likely warn that the Bay Area could be overrun by a tidal wave of child-sex traffickers, looking to cash in on a million fans flocking to the area to celebrate the big game.
As lawyers and educators who work in the field of trafficking, we’re both chagrined and grateful for these predictable stories.
Grateful because they shine a light on what could indeed be an uptick in the horrendous practice of forcing children or young women into sex trafficking — one of many forms of trafficking that we’ve spent years combating. But chagrined, too, because the best available law enforcement data show that, while events such as the Super Bowl might indeed mean more trafficking, in all likelihood there won’t be a tsunami of new victims; it won’t be just child sex laborers involved; and the problem won’t go away once the Super Bowl is over.
The sad truth is that the Bay Area already has a persistent problem of labor trafficking. Since 2006, in the South Bay, law enforcement and the South Bay Coalition to End Human Trafficking have identified and assisted more than 300 victims of human trafficking — defined as forced labor of any kind that includes threats of reputational, financial, physical, or other personal harm.
Given this reality, we hope sports fans and city residents alike will make good use of the increased attention on trafficking during the Super Bowl. Be alert for any new or existing child sex trafficking. But also educate yourself that anyone — from the person selling strawberries on the corner, ringing the ice cream cart bell, or selling candy or magazines door to door — could be a modern-day slave right under your nose.
The good news is that a growing number of people are being trained on how to spot victims and what to do to help. In collaboration with the Santa Clara County Office of Women’s Policy, we’ve trained thousands of VTA bus drivers, teachers, firefighters, health-clinic workers, social services staff and more. Since 2005, the South Bay Coalition to End Human Trafficking has also collaborated on trainings with law enforcement including the police, sheriff and district attorney’s office, victim service providers such as Community Solutions and AACI; and immigration, employment, and public benefit attorneys. A coalition work group, No Traffick Ahead, expands collaboration across eight counties.
Training teaches the signs of trafficking, such as a person who gives evasive answers to questions, is disoriented or forced to let someone else speak on their behalf, or is malnourished or sleep deprived. Those who suspect trafficking are urged to alert authorities, via a hotline (888-373-7888), and those victimized are urged to text “help” to BEFREE (233733).
So when you see the Super Bowl trafficking stories in your Facebook feed or in your local paper, by all means, read them and be outraged. But remember, unlike the Super Bowl, once fans have cleared out and confetti swept away, human trafficking doesn’t clear out until next year. It’s a problem that requires a village to stamp out.
Lynette Parker is a supervising attorney at Santa Clara University’s Katharine and George Alexander Community Law Center and a co-founder of the South Bay Coalition to End Human Trafficking. Ruth Silver Taube is supervising attorney at the Center’s Workers’ Rights Clinic and legal services chairwoman of the South Bay Coalition. They wrote this article for this newspaper.
