The City of Phoenix Human Trafficking Task Force expressed its determination to build Phoenix into a safe destination for next year’s Super Bowl and beyond at its meeting on Tuesday.
Phoenix is not the first city to address the potential for human trafficking when hosting the Super Bowl. The New Jersey Coalition Against Human Trafficking worked with local government leading up to last month’s game.
A study done by KLAAS KIDS Foundation and F.R.E.E. International saw a dramatic increase in online escort solicitation in Indianapolis leading up to the 2012 Super Bowl. Escort ad activity on Backpage – a classifieds website – increased from 28 classifieds two Thursdays before the Super Bowl to 118 the Thursday of the game.
City and statewide efforts to limit human trafficking, arrest traffickers and educate the public may be joined by representation from the Department of Homeland Security.
Maria Odom, chair of the Blue Campaign, a Department of Homeland Security program launched to address human trafficking, emphasized the role federal government organizations – namely the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement – played in coordinating the local effort against trafficking at this year’s Super Bowl in New Jersey.
Despite the nationwide representation of the Department of Homeland Security, Odom maintained that the brunt of the work will fall on the hands of Phoenix and the state of Arizona and not the federal government.
“The state and local effort is always the most important,” Odom said at the meeting. “We’re here to support you, but the spotlight is going to be on your effort.”
Odom said Phoenix should look to Atlanta and Miami as examples of cities with similar potential for sex trafficking as Phoenix because of Atlanta’s high event rates and Miami’s sports events and border location. Sarah Suggs and Jim Waring, the task force’s co-chairs, both mentioned their desire for Phoenix to become a model city in its own right.
Arizona House Bill 2454 could be a key to that goal. The bill is sponsored by Eddie Farnsworth, R-Gilbert. It is one of several bills focusing on human trafficking currently in the legislative system, but HB 2454 is the one backed by Attorney General Tom Horne, said Art Harding of the attorney general’s office.
HB 2454 would add racketeering to the charges applied to traffickers and would allow judges to charge those who hire 15-, 16- or 17-year-old prostitutes more harshly if the person should have known the prostitute was underage. Currently, charges are only increased if it’s proven that the person actually knew the prostitute was underage.
While HB 2454 aids with the prosecution element of trafficking, several members of the task force said they were concerned with helping trafficking victims. The Phoenix Dream Center and the Tumbleweed Center for Youth Development, both of which provide shelter for trafficking victims, were represented at the meeting.
Brian Steele, the executive director of the Dream Center, said the center intends to have 40 beds for adults and young adults along with 20 more temporary beds by the Super Bowl next year
Increasing communication between services like the Dream Center was also discussed at the meeting. Steele said while finding open beds is the main goal of communication, matching victims with those who can best help them is also vital.
“We’re looking for continuing care that really hits their specific needs,” Steele said.
Katie Resendiz, the program director of Training and Resources United to Stop Trafficking (TRUST), led the meeting’s “victim services” subgroup. Resendiz reiterated the CEO of the Tumbleweed Center for Youth Development Cynthia Schuler’s point that young men are often not addressed as trafficking victims.
“Phoenix has the opportunity to be revolutionary,” Resendiz said. “We can really be proactive (in aiding victims who are men).”
Schuler reiterated the need for an infrastructure for male victims.
“There isn’t shelter or housing for young men who have been victims of sexual trafficking,” Schuler said.
The other major element of the meeting was training and education. Training those who work around children and law enforcement play major roles, but trafficking victims must be educated about the resources to help them escape as well, according to Odom.
Odom’s Blue Campaign produces PSAs and posters to bring trafficking for cheap labor, domestic servitude and sex to light. While the materials may appear targeted at the general populace, Odom says there’s a particular element that makes them effective with trafficking victims as well.
“There’s no DHS logo on the posters,” Odom said. “We don’t want to intimidate victims by having a big DHS logo on it.”
In addition to educating the public to look out for trafficking, professional training for educators and counselors in middle and high schools was addressed. Lt. Jim Gallagher of the Phoenix Police Department emphasized that a statewide training effort is vital to educate those outside of Phoenix too.
While the task force’s stated purpose is stopping trafficking during the Super Bowl, multiple members mentioned the need for Phoenix to be a safe city before and after the big game too. Odom said the Blue Campaign targets the dates people will arrive for the Super Bowl, but many members of the committee said action needs to take place to stop trafficking as soon as possible.
“We don’t want things to start just for the Super Bowl,” Resendiz said. “We’re all aware that this is happening today, it’s happening tomorrow, and it’ll happen the day after the Super Bowl.”
The task force’s next meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Thurs., March 20.
Contact the reporter at Jayson Chesler.
