In 2024, there were at least 18 arrests related to human trafficking in San Luis Obispo County. More than half of those arrested were people trying to contact or meet up with minors for lewd reasons, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
While these numbers remain similar year after year, District Attorney Dan Dow said that over the past decade, the county’s Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force has successfully raised awareness about the issue.
It hasn’t yet achieved a significant decrease in cases, which Dow attributes to the constant demand for commercial sex.
“Sadly, every time we do an operation—a law enforcement operation—we have no problem finding people seeking to contact minors for purchasing sex,” Dow said. “So, unfortunately, it seems to be a steady problem.”
On Dec. 12, local law enforcement arrested three individuals during a sting operation for attempting to arrange a sexual encounter with someone the alleged perpetrators believed to be younger than 15, according to the SLO County Sheriff’s Office. Instead, they met with an undercover detective.
Human trafficking, sometimes also referred to as modern slavery, includes both sex and labor trafficking. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s website notes that “human trafficking involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act.”
Offenses such as soliciting prostitution, pimping, contacting a minor for a sexual offense, and meeting with a minor for lewd purposes are all connected to human trafficking, according to Dow. The rapid increase in mobile technologies such as cellphones and social media enables traffickers to recruit, advertise, and arrange illicit activities more efficiently than ever before, according to researchers from the University of Southern California Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership and Policy.
“It’s a part of the bigger picture of human trafficking,” Dow said. “It’s why there’s a human trafficking business out there, because people are looking for commercial sex and trying to contact people, and we want to reduce the chances of some young person being pulled into trafficking.”
In 2013, Dow worked on a case involving two Fresno gang members who trafficked two teenage girls in the San Luis Obispo area. That case highlighted the prevalence of trafficking in the county and prompted a shift in law enforcement’s view of sex workers from treating them as criminals to seeing them as victims, he said.
“This case opened our eyes to the fact that this was happening all over, and we just hadn’t detected it,” Dow said. “That case created within me a desire to say, ‘Hey, we’ve got to do a much better job.'”
Soon after he was elected as district attorney in 2014, Dow started the Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force, bringing together people from agencies and organizations across the county to collaborate on strategies to disrupt trafficking efforts.
“We’ve increased awareness, but there are still people in our community that don’t want to believe it is happening here because it’s beautiful San Luis Obispo,” Dow said. “I can just assure them that it is, and we’re working hard to keep it at bay and to reduce the number.”
Law enforcement initiatives
Human trafficking, like any other business, is all about supply and demand, Dow said.
When officers arrest someone for related crimes, Dow explained that it temporarily reduces the demand from that person and any other “would-be purchaser” who hears about law enforcement’s involvement.
As part of the task force’s initiatives to combat trafficking efforts in the county, local law enforcement carries out at least one sting operation a year. Every operation results in several arrests, Dow said, and he’s confident that crimes related to human trafficking decrease directly following that work.
“That’s the goal of our anti-human trafficking program, to reduce the demand by doing these operations, arresting people, charging them, and publicizing it so that the community knows that we’re going after it,” Dow said.
Before the 2013 case involving the Fresno gang members and two minors, the county often prosecuted both the commercial sex purchaser and the sex worker. However, the focus shifted to targeting sex traffickers once law enforcement started recognizing the sex workers as victims, Special Victims Unit Detective Kara Dickel told New Times via email.
“This was the victim-center approach where it was felt that by providing help and services to the sex workers, it would encourage healthier lifestyles and safety for them,” Dickel wrote.
The San Luis Obispo County Counter Human Trafficking Team, primarily made up of investigators from the District Attorney’s Office, Sheriff’s Office, and Special Operations Unit, is one group of law enforcement individuals that focuses specifically on cases related to trafficking.
The team consistently looks for “pimps and traffickers,” according to Assistant Chief District Attorney Investigator JT Camp, who was previously assigned to human trafficking cases and is still involved in some investigations.
“We’re looking to rescue victims, and we’re looking to deter people from even engaging in buying prostitution services,” Camp said.
Raising awareness that law enforcement remains vigilant in identifying signs of trafficking is crucial in deterring perpetrators, but Camp emphasized that tackling human trafficking requires a multi-faceted approach.
“We need the enforcement part, we need the education part of it, and we need a community that’s aware of what human trafficking really is and what it isn’t,” Camp said.
Education initiatives
One county program aims to educate those arrested for attempting to purchase commercial sex—specifically from an adult—about the broader implications of their actions and their role in fueling human trafficking.
As part of the program, arrested individuals take a class where they hear from a human trafficking survivor and are required to write an essay about how their behavior contributed to the demand for sex trafficking, Dow said. If they successfully complete the program, their conviction can be reversed and their plea withdrawn.
“The purchasers who have gone through our Anti-Human Trafficking Education and Awareness Program and graduated, they told us that they were shocked to hear of what their conduct was actually supporting, and they have now become vocal against human trafficking,” Dow said. “I believe that if they’re genuine in that education and transformation, I believe that it will prevent them from going out and trying to engage in commercial sex again.”
To protect and inform more vulnerable populations, such as youth, the Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force implements specialized initiatives.
A major challenge in addressing human trafficking across the county is the targeting of youth on social media, noted Julie Kadis, program manager for the Department of Social Services, and Leann Eddy, program review specialist, who co-chair the Children and Youth Committee on the task force.
“The incidence of predatory behavior through technology is exponential,” Kadis said. “It places all children at incredible risk, and it’s important that we educate youth. It’s important that we educate parents and caregivers.”
In 2020, the National Human Trafficking Hotline reported a 22 percent surge in online recruitment, making digital platforms the primary method for recruiting victims across all forms of trafficking.
In an effort to combat this growing threat, SLO County Department of Social Services recently launched a human trafficking awareness campaign designed to reach youth ages 12 to 17 on social media platforms like TikTok and Snapchat. Other campaigns with similar goals include ones carried out by ambassadors from the Youth Engagement Project (YEP), a program supported by Social Services.
YEP aims to uplift youth voices as well as spread awareness and resources throughout the community, according to M, a youth ambassador who wished to remain anonymous due to her active role in public engagement initiatives. New Times is referring to her by her first initial.
“The Youth Engagement Project is definitely a great way for youth voices to be heard because if you ask any youth in [foster] care, a lot of the issues that they have is that they’re not listened to or their opinion doesn’t really matter,” M explained. “With YEP, it actually gives them a voice, and that’s very important, not just for their own well-being, but for change to happen in the system.”
M, along with every youth ambassador, has firsthand experience with the foster care system, which she believes provides her with an insider’s perspective on its weaknesses and how it can be improved. Her experiences in the system, as well as in the larger San Luis Obispo community, inform her desire to raise awareness about human trafficking within the county.
“When I was living in SLO, some guy tried to … get me in his car in the middle of broad daylight—middle of the day—on Broad Street, which is one of the main roads,” M said. “It was very scary. I had to run away, and he was following me. It was just a really kind of traumatic experience, and who knows how many people have experienced that in this town.”
Success despite challenges
San Luis Obispo’s location on Highway 101, between San Francisco and Los Angeles, as well as its appeal as a tourist destination, makes it a “corridor” for human trafficking, Dow explained. This, coupled with the constant demand for commercial sex, has made it difficult for the task force to see a significant change in case numbers over the years.
However, the Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force has successfully raised awareness about the issue, he said.
“Ten years ago, when we talked in the community about it, people would say, ‘Oh, that doesn’t happen here,’ but because of our arrests, because of our prosecutions, because of the cases that have been highlighted in the media, people are now aware that it does happen here,” Dow said.
The task force faces challenges in securing adequate resources, he added, especially given the fact that human trafficking-related cases only make up a fraction of the crimes committed in SLO County. Despite this, members of the team meet every other month to share insights, success stories, resources, and other information to help them tackle the ongoing issue across the county.
“I’m very proud to say that we have an active Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force, where our law enforcement partners are very strongly committed to detecting it and making appropriate arrests,” Dow said. “And our office [is] aggressively prosecuting the traffickers, whether they be the literal traffickers—meaning the pimps—or the buyers, who would be supporting and causing the demand for trafficking.”
It’s important for local law enforcement and elected officials to continue to put time, effort, and resources toward “fighting the good fight,” Camp from the District Attorney’s Office said.
Looking ahead, Camp expressed optimism about the task force’s ability to continue its mission and adapt to new challenges as they arise.
“I foresee, just the continued good work that’s been put in over 10 years now,” Camp said. “Just being out there, educating people, connecting and collaborating with people, doing good investigative work, and providing services to victims when we can, and really carrying on the work that’s been done up to this point, and evolving as things evolve.” Δ
Reach New Times contributor Emma Montalbano at emontalbano@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Dec 19-29, 2024.