On Thursday, the San Francisco Mayor's Task Force on Anti-Human Trafficking released a report detailing the type of human trafficking cases that government and community agencies handled in Eight agencies involved in public health, women and family services, law enforcement and legal services reported cases of sex and labor trafficking induced by force, fraud or coercion. The numbers are considerably lower than data in years prior β the department reported cases from 22 agencies in β though it may be because far fewer agencies contributed to the report.
A task force representative said the COVID pandemic created several barriers for agencies to participate, like staff turnover rates and lower capacity to provide services. When comparing the total number of cases over the years in the same eight agencies, however, there was an average of 23 percent more cases at each agency. This could partially come from agencies expanding their services, like Safe House, an organization that increased from 5 cases in to 51 in after it launched a new program to house people facing sexual exploitation and homelessness.
Of the cases reported, 91 percent were sex trafficking cases. According to the report, the San Francisco Police Department opened 51 investigations into human trafficking cases in Eleven resulted in arrests and nine resulted in charges being brought against the alleged trafficker.
The San Francisco Department on the Status of Women and the task force will focus on three recommendations following the report's findings β there needs to be reignition of anti-trafficking organizations in the city, more funds allocated to essential organizations and data collection focused on finding what services are needed. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc.
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