‘Human Trafficking’ Sting Yields 547 Arrests, but Only 1 for Human Trafficking
“Weeklong human trafficking sting operation nets 547 arrests across California,” says the KTLA5 headline. With “Operation Reclaim & Rebuild,” over 100 law enforcement agencies set out “rescuing victims of sexual slavery and human trafficking, apprehending their captors and disrupting the demand for vulnerable individuals,” the Los Angeles news station reports.
To your casual observer, that surely suggests that hundreds of traffickers were arrested during the operation, which took place from January 26 through February 1. And with a few careful language tricks, police are happy to stoke this impression. Indeed, some 333 of those arrested were “exploiters,” the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) brags.
But dig a little deeper and it becomes clear that this whole operation is a mirage, designed to give the impression that police are playing heroes instead of consensual sex cops.
If only 333 of the arrests involved “exploiters,” that means a full 214 arrests were for unrelated charges. The LAPD doesn’t say for what, but it could mean that women were also arrested for prostitution, as is often the case in so-called human trafficking stings. Such stings also tend to be used as catchall petty-crime dragnets, picking up people for things like drug possession, driving on an expired license, owning a gun without the right permits, or having outstanding warrants.
Still, 333 “exploiters” would be a lot—if the term here actually meant people guilty of sexual exploitation. But law enforcement now tends to lump prostitution customers in with sex traffickers, counting any attempt to pay a consenting adult for sex as exploitation. It’s very likely that the vast majority of these “exploiters” merely face a solicitation charge.
This assumption is backed up by information from the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office, which reports that only one person was charged with trafficking of a minor for a commercial sex act.
Three additional people were charged with “pandering”—that is, facilitating prostitution—and one person was charged with pimping, according to the D.A.’s office.
So with 547 arrests in this “human trafficking sting,” we get one—one!—human trafficking charge?
The D.A.’s office suggests more charges could come eventually. But cops always say that. It’s a convenient way to put off people who might question the premises of their sting. Sure, sure, only one charge now, but there could be more coming later! Ask again later, and you’ll get no response or a promise that the investigation is still ongoing. I’ve followed up on enough of these stings to know the playbook well.
It’s not even clear that the one human trafficking arrest here had anything to do with this massive sting operation, as the arrest took place three days before Operation Reclaim and Rebuild supposedly started.
And the deceptive descriptions of those arrested aren’t the only language
Article from Reason.com
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