MARICOPA, AZ — There's a wide-scale effort to crack down on human trafficking in Arizona.
Hundreds of law enforcement officials, advocacy groups and court officials from across the state gathered in Maricopa for a two-day summit. Survivors also shared their stories, trying to raise awareness and find ways to prevent the crime.
"I'll tell you what changed my life, it was people. People came to help me. They didn't know about my history, and they didn't know, you know, the details of my life. All they knew is that I was somebody that needed help," said Tanya Alegria, who is sharing her experience.
When it comes to human trafficking, Alegria refers to herself as a person with lived experience. It's through her experience that she is now helping others.
"It's helping people to build self-efficacy, letting them know that they're not alone," said Alegria.
The inaugural Arizona Human Trafficking Summit connected 300 leaders from all over the state.
"There are very specific techniques that abusers and traffickers use that we can teach kids," said Dominique Roe-Sepowitz, director of ASU Office of Sex Trafficking Intervention Research.
During a break-out session, Roe-Sepowitz discussed ways to educate the youth. She also launched a human trafficking hotline for the state just this year.
You can get directed to that line by calling 1-877-4AZ-TIPS, where Alegria is one person who will pick up and offer help.
"We'll get you in the shelter and get you connected to mental health services, substance-use services, education services, employment services. Whatever that journey looks like for you, we're going to walk through that," said Alegria.
Commander Tom Boelts, from the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office, says he first got involved with the fight against human trafficking in 2012.
"These are our kids that are being recruited through video games - now they wear headsets - through, you know, apps, through messaging," said Commander Boelts.
ABC15 was told the average age of a victim is 14 years old and that traffickers often lure them with money or expensive items. Boelts says what he realized is this is a domestic problem that law enforcement can't fight by themselves.
"We're trying to expand that reach as much as we can to those professions who are going to see these victims and then be able to call law enforcement and say, 'I think you need to come look at this one,'" said Commander Boelts.
The hope is to ask the right questions and identify the red flags, to be able to identify those in need.
"If you talk to anybody who does this work, they'll tell you when they do talk to a victim, the victim will deny that they are a victim. A lot of times, they don't even realize that they are, said Commander Boelts.
