No one expects human trafficking to happen in their city. But just because it doesn’t always look the way it does in movies doesn’t mean it can’t happen in the Golden Triangle.
Now, law enforcement agencies are teaming up to prevent human trafficking from happening in the area. The Starkville Board of Aldermen unanimously approved joining the North Mississippi Human Trafficking Enforcement Task Force on Tuesday, an interlocal agreement that sets the city up for a leadership role in ensuring the Golden Triangle’s police are properly trained and prepared when victims emerge.
The collaboration, if it comes together, would require its members to maintain human trafficking enforcement training for officers and collaborate with other departments when a potential human trafficking case appears, with civilian partners helping support victims.
“When you deal with human trafficking, I cannot emphasize enough, you have to have specialized trauma training,” said Starkville Police Chief Mark Ballard on Tuesday. “You have to be trained how to interview a victim that might very well be, in that individual’s mind, totally dependent on the perpetrator.”
Human trafficking is a form of modern day slavery where people profit from the exploitation of others. The United States broadly recognizes two primary forms of human trafficking: forced labor and sex trafficking. Sex trafficking occurs when a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud or coercion, or when the person performing the commercial sex act is a minor.
Two people were arrested on human trafficking charges in Columbus in December, having lured a 21-year-old victim from Richmond, Indiana, to the city. The victim called the police, who discovered her hiding in a hotel room bathroom. At the time, Columbus Police Department Chief Joseph Daughtry said the victim was coerced into going with the perpetrators.
Ballard said the new task force will serve as a preventative measure, ensuring officers have proper training when human trafficking cases emerge. SPD’s existing focus on cybercrime helps find and address human trafficking, he said, but law enforcement still can’t match non-governmental organizations when it comes to victim support and community reintegration.
“What we hope to gain out of this is an actionary footing if we’re challenged by (human trafficking), not a reactionary footing,” Ballard said. “… You have to be able to get victims away from the perpetrator and into an environment with a 24-hour support system. That’s not something we’re built for, but these non-governmental organizations are. They can’t do it without us and we can’t do it without them.”
Who’s on the task force?
The task force would have seven total members according to documents that accompanied the vote, with SPD joined by the Oktibbeha, Clay, Lowndes and Noxubee sheriff’s offices, as well as the 16th Circuit District Attorney’s Office. Joining them and helping to organize the effort is the Center for Violence Prevention, a Mississippi nonprofit that fights domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking. Other Golden Triangle city police forces like CPD and WPPD aren’t included in the task force at this point, according to its formation documents.
Participating sheriff’s offices would send trained personnel to assist other members when a potential human trafficking case emerges. When there isn’t an active case, they would maintain training, attend regular task force meetings and apply official certification to existing human trafficking cases, a designation needed for the victims to receive some support services.
“We’re a small, rural department,” said Noxubee County Sheriff Tommy Roby. “We don’t have all the finances of other departments, it will do us good to team up with other counties around us.”
SPD would take point in the effort, doing all of the above while also maintaining a task force board. The task force’s lead investigator would be SPD Sgt. Chris Jackson, who would be the region’s main contact for the National Human Trafficking Hotline and in charge of investigating or forwarding any leads.
The Center for Violence Prevention would run the non-governmental operations, assisting victims, providing support staff and acting as the task force’s fiscal agent for grant funding. The office of 16th Circuit District Attorney Scott Colom would provide prosecutorial assistance and designate an assistant district attorney to direct investigations.
That said, even with Starkville signing on, the task force isn’t a done deal quite yet. Lowndes County Sheriff Eddie Hawkins said his office has already gotten the go-ahead from his county’s supervisors, but all potential members need to be onboard before there can be a signing ceremony and the task force can formally begin operations.
Roby confirmed NCSO had already gotten approval to join the task force as well. Clay County Sheriff Eddie Scott said approval for the task force is slated to go before his board of supervisors on March 24. Colom said he has had talks about joining the task force and is supportive of the idea, but he hasn’t yet seen a memorandum of understanding that would make his involvement official.
Another gap is the Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Office, which doesn’t seem to have been contacted yet about the proposal. Sheriff Shank Phelps confirmed Wednesday that he hadn’t heard of the task force, and the same was true of District 2 Supervisor Orlando Trainer and Emergency Management Director Kristen Campanella.
Trainer did say he expected the measure would get a warm reception from the supervisors, and Phelps said he was “sure (the department) would be a part of it” after hearing a description.
Sandy Middleton, executive director of the Center for Violence Prevention, told The Dispatch Wednesday that the groups listed today are just a start, and she hopes to see other police forces and enforcement organizations join after the task force begins formal operations.
“This is not the end of the effort, it’s just the beginning of what we’re doing in the area,” she said. “Agencies in the Golden Triangle have done a great job with human trafficking cases, and we hope to build on this and include more.”
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 35 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
