RESEARCH
Policing Labor Trafficking in the United States
Labor trafficking is a form of human trafficking that is defined as “ the recruitment , harboring , transportation , provision , or obtaining a person for labor or services , through the use of force , fraud , or coercion for the purposes of subjection to involuntary servitude , peonage , debt bondage , or slavery ” Trafficking victimization can take many forms ranging from undocumented workers to persons with a visa being exploited . Victims do not report their plight for a variety of reasons , including their unawareness that they are a victim , fear of law enforcement , and fear of being deported .
To better identify factors that impede law enforcement agencies from investigating these crimes , researchers conducted in-depth interviews with 24 local , state , and federal officers , 34 service providers , and 28 labor trafficking survivors in four communities . Three basic challenges for law enforcement were identified including :
• A lack of a clear definition of labor trafficking
• Lack of institutional readiness
• Routine police practices that interfere with officers ’ responses .
Unclear Labor Trafficking Definition First , there is a limited understanding on the part of the public and law enforcement of actions that constitute labor trafficking . Unlike sex trafficking , investigating labor trafficking is more difficult to identify because of the need to determine if the work being conducted is criminal . The issue becomes more complex when ‘ legitimate ’ workers are mixed with trafficked workers , many of whom do not know the status of others . Since many victims are forced into exploitive work for just a few days or weeks , it is hard to define the ‘ degree of harm ’ to constitute trafficking . Because of this , cases that are made typically involve extreme incidents of physical abuse and / or involve multiple victims .
In other instances , distinguishing between labor code violations and trafficking crimes make it challenging for officers to determine if they had authority to act . This results in officers being hesitant to act without support from prosecutors . To complicate matters even more , prosecutors have different interpretations of the statutes .
Institutional Readiness Even when officers are clear about a labor trafficking issue , they lack the training and resources to properly investigate cases . Officers in every community studied noted they were not prepared to investigate or prosecute cases .
First-line officers , who are most likely to observe incidents , had very little training on how to identify and respond to incidents . Most of the training officers received was through roll-call training or during their basic academy training . As a result , departments rely on citizen complaints to identify violations .
When complaints were received , officers reported agencies did not have specialized investigators or units to investigate complaints . Adding to the mix , agencies have an overwhelming number of sex trafficking cases in which they did have the resources and skill sets to address .
Routine Police Practices Agencies have few , if any , protocols , policies , or investigative tools to guide officers responding to these crimes . Despite efforts to develop improved relationships with labor regulators , agencies reported they receive few leads of incidents .
In fact , officers reported regulatory agency representatives attended meetings , but were focused on conducting their inspections and rarely shared information regarding trafficking incidents .
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