PHOENIX — As the Super Bowl draws near, advocates and police departments across the Valley are continuing to do work around fighting human trafficking.
Inside the Arizona Grand Resort & Spa, a resort in Phoenix with hundreds of rooms, employees spent more than an hour learning the red flags for human trafficking.
Oftentimes, the crime of trafficking takes place inside hotels, motels, or resorts.
“This crime is really complex,” said Stacey Sutherland with the Arizona Anti-Trafficking Network.
Sutherland is leading the training at Arizona Grand Resort & Spa where she spoke to a room full of employees, from front desk clerks, to housekeepers, valet staff, and servers.
“We always look for people without access to their own IDs, money, cell phones, things like that,” she said.
By her side, was a sergeant with the Phoenix Police Department who works on operations targeting women who are likely victims of trafficking.
ABC15 partnered with the Arizona Anti-Trafficking Network in January for a live Facebook town hall. You can watch the town hall in the player below.
Phoenix police have a Human Exploitation and Trafficking Unit (HEAT) where they focus on an area known as the Track. The Track is a stretch of 27th Avenue from Indian School Road to Northern Avenue where police look for women who may be victims.
“You’ll get prostitution, you’ll get violent crime, you’ll get just about anything," said Lieutenant David Saflar with Phoenix police. "There’s theft, there’s drug use, there’s drug sales, it’s a rough area.”
Sutherland explained to resort employees that there is a range in victims — the youngest she’s worked with was age 2, while the oldest was 67.
“The resorts that let us in are showing that they take human trafficking seriously," she added. "They’re not going to allow it on their property, they’re going to report it to law enforcement.”
Sutherland said advocates like her are finding new, innovative ways to reach victims where they are.
There are different non-profits that are getting inside hotels, motels, and resorts and putting in tip lines for help in different ways — like bars of soap, makeup wipes, and other avenues.
Part of the training done by Sutherland explains that housekeepers can keep an eye out for large sums of cash, a large number of condoms, or other items that may indicate a crime could happen.
Along with training those in the hospitality industry, Sutherland has trained other civilians inside airports and different departments within the City of Phoenix as well.
“We’ve gotten really creative to meet our victims where it’s safe for everybody and offer them a variety of services,” said Sutherland.
The department is also changing how they police this crime, as they tell ABC15 they can’t arrest their way out of this.
When officers come into contact with victims, they are working with those community advocates, and survivors as well.
“We do wrap-around services, so they see a counselor, they can get housing, they can get a job, they can do a lot of different things,” said Lt. Saflar.
Despite the perception, there is no proven data that the Super Bowl is the largest sex trafficking event.
Dominique Roe-Sepowitz, the Director of Arizona State University’s Office of Sex Trafficking Intervention Research studied this issue during the 2015 Super Bowl in Glendale.
Roe-Sepowitz began her studies in 2014 and continued her research in 2015 for the game.
“While there is no empirical evidence that the Super Bowl causes an increase in sex trafficking compared to other days and events throughout the year, there was a noticeable increase in those activities intended to locate victims from both law enforcement and service provision organizations," Roe-Sepowitz says.
“It's a really difficult market to measure,” she added, “It's an illicit market. It's hidden. People don't want to be seen, buyers don't want to be noticed.”
Roe-Sepowitz said victims that have come through their system have been as young as six and as old as 67.
Roe-Sepowitz emphasizes that sex trafficking is an issue 365 days of the year, and she is okay with the focus on the subject around the Super Bowl, “I think the hype is really a great opportunity for us to have this conversation, we wouldn't have had it if it wasn't for the Super Bowl coming.”
Her work with ASU was able to conclude that sex trafficking does happen during the Super Bowl, but if the game brings in more, Roe-Sepowitz says there's no firm answer to that question.
“Until data gets better, until we're able to measure things that are hidden, and that people are purposefully hiding, we won't really have that answer anytime soon," said Roe-Sepowitz.
If you believe you have information regarding human trafficking, you are asked to call the Arizona Counter Terrorism Information Center at 1-877-4AZ-TIPS or the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.
