Just how big of a problem is human trafficking in the United States? It’s hard to say, because state and regional law enforcement records likely reflect less than 10 percent of trafficking victims in the area, according to new research by Amy Farrell, a Northeastern University professor who studies human trafficking.
Farrell and her colleagues came across some glaring problems within the very structure of crime reporting, the most immediate of which, Farrell says, is that state and local police often don’t have the specialized training necessary to identify human trafficking when they see it.
If they do, it can be difficult to persuade a victim of human trafficking to collaborate with a police investigation when such a victim is primarily concerned with more immediate needs, Farrell says.
