Tampa girds for Super Bowl and a surge in sex trafficking

Jan. 31 marked the end of Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, but one of the biggest spikes in human trafficking is occurring right now and it will culminate in the National Football League's biggest game, the Super Bowl, on Feb. 7 in Tampa, Florida.

As a former member of my county's Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force, we learned that big events involving large numbers of people in a concentrated area, like the Super Bowl, are magnets for the traffickers to bring their victims.

Criminal gangs have learned that human trafficking, particularly sex trafficking, is more profitable and less dangerous than drug smuggling.

According to the International Labor Organization, forced labor and human trafficking is a $150 billion industry globally with an estimated 40.3 million victims worldwide.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “We are working hard every day to fight this form of modern-day slavery. I am honored to work with law enforcement, service providers, state agencies, task forces, trade associations and business partners to provide a safe environment for events like the ... 2021 Super Bowl in Tampa. Spreading awareness is a critical step; you can help us stop human trafficking by knowing the signs and how to report trafficking when you see it.”

In Atlanta two years ago, the FBI reported that an 11-day pre-Super Bowl operation yielded the arrests of 169 people, including 26 alleged traffickers, and the rescues of nine juvenile victims.

Human trafficking knows no bounds. Trafficking claims victims of all ages, sexes, ethnicities and demographics. Signs that a person is a victim of human trafficking include:

• Seeming to be under the control of another individual;
• Responding as if coached, or letting someone else speak for them;
• Acting fearful, anxious or paranoid;
• Displaying branding-scars, burns or tattoos, or having serious dental issues; and
• Being malnourished, disoriented or confused, or showing other signs of physical abuse.

Tampa has the 12th highest rate of calls per capita made to the National Human Trafficking Hotline and Florida has the third highest rate of human trafficking cases reported. Last year during the Super Bowl in Miami, 44 human traffickers and customers were arrested.

But it is important to remember that labor and sex trafficking occurs 365 days of the year. While the Super Bowl may bring attention to the problem, it is not the cause of the problem. We must remain vigilant year-round because it almost certainly happening in your community. In my work with the task force, we learned that the victims came from suburban communities like mine and brought to distant cities to separate the victims from natural support systems.

According to a study of the DOJ human trafficking task force cases, 83% of sex trafficking victims identified in the United States were U.S. citizens. The average age that a trafficked victim is first used for commercial sex is between 12 and 14 years old. Some victims are as young as 9 years old, according to the study.

To learn how to spot and report human trafficking, click here or report suspected human trafficking by calling the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1 (888) 373-7888.