Table of Contents
Introduction:
Human trafficking or smuggling is a humanitarian crisis happening around the globe. Many resolutions have been signed to combat human trafficking and virtual child exploitation. Human trafficking is increasing rapidly.
Many states, government officials, law enforcement agencies, victim advocates, and local agencies are working to overcome this pandemic. However, the role of private investigators to combat human trafficking is ignored.
Private investigators can make a huge difference to fight against human trafficking and child exploitation. Many private investigators have already made huge efforts against this global problem. Here are the details about how private investigators can combat human trafficking.
Why There is a Lack of Awareness About Human Trafficking?
Many people think that it means forcing people into sex trades. However, human trafficking is not restricted to just such kinds of things. Human trafficking is to suppress someone to work against their will—no matter what type of work they have to do.
Many people think that slavery is something that is associated with the past. But the number of such people trapped in this modern slavery is rapidly increasing. It is not only restricted to adults, but children are also a victim of human trafficking.
It happens due to a lack of awareness and denial to accept the fact that such a problem could exist. Many people are aware of this problem, but are unaware that it may happen close to their homes.
In this pandemic, the rate of human trafficking cases has increased to a disturbing level. Human trafficking is the transporting, harboring, recruiting, or selling of humans by fraud. People may be enslaved to do forced labor or sexual exploitation.
Statistics of Human Trafficking Globally:
It is impossible to calculate the exact number of human trafficking cases in the world, as a great number of cases go unreported. According to the statistics of the International Labor Organization (ILO), there are about 40.3 million cases of human trafficking reported globally. An average of 75% of victims are girls, and the other 25% are children.
Co-founder of Global Pursuit Investigations (GPI), Dottie Laster started her career in 2003 as the first American state’s attorney for the first human trafficking program in the history of the U.S. She was one among the 80 people who were selected by the state for the first of its kind of Human trafficking training program.
Dottie Laster as an advocate of a victim, trained law enforcement officers alongside her training to understand what human trafficking is. She trains officers about how to handle victims, how to understand the human trafficking laws, and how to persecute them. She advocates human trafficking victims for many years.
Dottie Laster stated that “Human trafficking has increased dramatically in the recent few years. When the use of mobile phones becomes common, bad people use them to their advantage. Usually, young adults and teenagers use such interactive applications. Anyone can be a victim of human trafficking irrespective of age, gender, social status, and geographical location”.
Can Private Investigators Help Human Trafficking Investigations?
Commonly, people think that only traditional law enforcement professionals can do human trafficking investigations. In many trafficking cases, law enforcement officers, victim advocates, private investigators, and NGOs work together as an association against human trafficking.
Sometimes, family members who lost their loved ones to human trafficking feel that they are not getting enough response from law enforcement professionals. As a result, they contact private investigators to conduct their investigation from the start and help them to recover their loved ones.
However, the role of private investigators is overlooked against human trafficking, but we cannot deny their aid and efforts in investigations. The rate of human trafficking is huge, and it can be hard to investigate such cases. Private investigators have their unique ways and resources to aid in investigations.
Law enforcement officials have many other problems that they have to solve, so it may be a reason that they are unable to put in the effort and time that is required to investigate such cases. On the other hand, private investigators have skills and resources that they can use in trafficking investigations and can put more dedication into solving the case.
How Can PIs Help Human Trafficking Investigations?
Private investigators can help in multiple ways to solve human trafficking cases. Private investigators are skilled in finding missing persons, surveillance, and collecting details and evidence that other people don’t find easily. Sometimes, private investigators can do many things that law professionals are unable to do due to lack of time or other circumstances.
Another important thing that private investigators can do for human trafficking cases is media handling. In most cases, the media only highlights the high profile and high society cases. In such cases, private investigators can keep a case alive through private advertising, their contacts, and social media platforms.
What to do if You Suspect Human Trafficking?
Anyone who suspects someone that they know or their loved one is disappeared or lost as human trafficking, reach out to law enforcement agencies for help. You should not try to solve it by yourself if you are not trained or have no knowledge about how to handle any such condition.
Sometimes, many cases need more than one person, agencies or organization to aid in the investigation. In human trafficking cases, it is important that the victim’s advocate is aware of trafficking laws and is properly trained to handle the situation and investigation. Private investigators can also help to investigate and recover the victims.
Final Verdict:
Private investigators have their different perception of investigation. They have a keen eye on intent searches, sex trafficking sites, social media platform groups, and pages of missing persons. They often conduct their trafficking surveillance and collect evidence to save the victim with the help of the police.
Many law enforcement agencies appreciate the individual efforts of private investigators. They acknowledge their efforts for tracing and locating the lost girls and children and saving the boys that are enforced for sex trading. Private investigators help many victims to bring them back to normal life.
In case you suspect someone has disappeared as a result of human trafficking, don’t waste your time and immediately contact private investigators and other law enforcement agencies.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):
How can private investigators deal with Human Trafficking Cases?
Private investigators can accumulate proof when they’re directing authorities, with limitations that differ from one state to another. At the point when they are gathering proof, in the event that they do discover proof of a crime, they can contact the police officer to make them aware of these criminal cases.
How does the FBI battle illegal criminal acts of trafficking?
The best method to explore the illegal act of trafficking is through a community-oriented, multi-organization approach with our government, state, neighborhood, and ancestral accomplices. FBI Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Forces work inside virtually every FBI field office.
3.What sort of powers and authorities do private investigators have?
Private investigators will have motivated to:
- Use GPS tracking
- Follow somebody in a public spot.
- Use public and Open source records to search for individuals.
- Perform foundation and history checks.
- Social Media and Internet Enquiries.
