Trafficking laws could be tightened, detective says

WASILLA — An Anchorage police detective told Valley residents to keep an eye out for local runaway children and other potential recruits for the sex trade.

Speaking to attendees of the “Break The Chains” Conference at North Gate Alaska Church Saturday, Anchorage Det. Amber Neer said the successful prosecution of sex trafficking cases since the mid 2000s does not mean the problem has been solved. Cases of sexually exploited children were so numerous — officials with the Federal Bureau of Investigation have identified more than 1,000 victims in Alaska — that the bureau has developed an acronym to describe them: CSEC, for Commercially Sexually Exploited Children.

While that number is large, it only tells the more visible part of the story, Neer said.

“We have not had a lot of victims walk into a police station and say ‘I’m a victim of trafficking,’” she said. “I used to say ‘never,’ but we had one person come in and say ‘I’m a victim of trafficking.’”

Because trafficking victims, some as young as nine years old, don’t self-identify, incidents involving sex trafficking can sometimes be written up as assault, sexual assault, prostitution or domestic violence, Neer said.

While Alaska might lack the endemic homelessness associated with countries like Cambodia or India, laws pertaining to sex trafficking in the 49th State lack two critical categories allowing for the prosecution of traffickers under stricter crimes. Federal standards require the transportation of victims across state lines in order to establish federal jurisdiction, and sex trafficking laws in Alaska had a similar requirement until 2012, when code was amended to allow prosecution for trafficking conducted inside state lines.

However, while the federal statutes provide for three sources of potential trafficking, including the use of force, fraud, and coercion to force children and adults into the sex trade, Alaska Statute 11.66.110 (a)(1) allows only force to be used as an acceptable motivation.

In other words, Neer said, detectives looking to prosecute sex traffickers must prove those traffickers used force in order to charge them with the associated class A felony, and thus seek the associated potential 20-year prison sentence. That distinction is critical, particularly when minor victims of sex trafficking can easily be pushed into prostitution without the use of force, which is more commonly seen in adults, Neer said.

“Juveniles are very easy to trick,” she said.

In addition, many victims of the trafficking industry come from situations where past authority figures or role models may have abused them, leading to a deep-seated mistrust of authority figures, Neer said.

“We come in, arrest them, put them in handcuffs, and then say ‘We wanna help,’” she said. “Until people figure out that’s not going to work, it’s the best we can have.”

Many of those present at the Break the Chains weekend were involved with community groups like Covenant House or MYHouse, which provide opportunities and structure for at-risk youth.

Neer laid out the signs that youth could be involved with the sex trade: new clothes, new manicures, new hairdos.

“Keep an eye out for the sudden increase of money,” she said. “Oftentimes, it comes with strings attached.”

With sudden improvement in economic circumstance comes a new vocabulary, most of it widely disseminated in rap videos and culture: traffickers are pimps, and the top-earning prostitute in a trafficking organization is called a bottom.

Sex trade victims may be recruited at schools, malls, shelters, jails, homes, strip clubs and in the streets, Neer said. Runaways are particularly vulnerable, and can end up being recruited into a sex trafficking operation a mere 72 hours after leaving home. Traffickers often prey on vulnerable children, who are easily manipulated without the use of force. These recruits are then groomed, where a pimp makes a special effort to provide clothes and other forms of special treatment. The final stage in the process is “breaking in” or “turning out,” where special treatment is paired with physical, sexual, and psychological abuse, Neer said.

Rural prostitution often victimizes Alaska Native populations, a process sometimes known as “tundra pimping,” in which youthful visitors to Anchorage end up relying on their trafficker as their sole protector. Other times, rural prostitution is an extension of familial abuse.

In addition, oftentimes prostitutes — themselves frequent victims — bear the brunt of the crimes, Neer said. Sting operations, where female officers pose as prostitutes to lure clients, typically result in a suspended sentence.

“Johns literally get a slap on the hand,” she said.

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269 or brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com.