http://www.denverpost.com/ci_5311050

denver & the west
State mobilizes to fight human trafficking
By Bruce Finley
Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 02/27/2007 12:48:36 AM MST


Rep. Alice Borodkin, chairwoman of a state task force targeting human trafficking, talks about the task-force study Monday in the Capitol. "This is a hidden, hideous, complex crime that is against civil rights of people around the world," she said. (Post / John Prieto)Colorado officials on Monday warned that the elusive problem of human trafficking "is alive and well" in neighborhoods statewide.

And public-safety chiefs are mobilizing hundreds of police officers and social workers to watch out for trafficked workers held against their will.

Some of the 800 trained so far, under a $450,000 federal grant, have begun using a network of on-call interpreters who speak Korean, Mandarin, Russian and Spanish and can help identify potential victims.

"This is a hidden, hideous, complex crime that is against civil rights of people around the world," said state Rep. Alice Borodkin, D-Denver, leader of a task force scheduled to address legislative committees today.

A task-force study completed this month refers to recent cases, including a Denver police crackdown on Korean-run spas and the conviction of an Aurora couple from Saudi Arabia who kept an Indonesian woman as a slave.

Meanwhile, FBI agents in December finished two investigations of farmworkers held against their will, FBI spokeswoman Rene VonderHaar said.

"If we hear about it, we will work it," she said.

The problem: Trafficking has proved hard to detect. Victims typically fear retribution and clam up, experts say. Unlike smuggling, trafficking involves confiscation of travel documents and other coercion.

The U.S. State Department estimates 14,500 to 17,500 foreign workers are brought into the country each year via trafficking - part of a $9 billion global criminal trade exceeded only by illegal arms and drug dealing.

A handful of traffickers are convicted each year under federal laws. Colorado and 26 other states have passed anti-trafficking laws of their own.

Now Colorado public-safety officials are training police officers and others along Interstates 25 and 70 to treat foreign workers they meet as possible victims.

A hotline run under federal contract by the Salvation Army is to dispatch interpreters to help police.

Lakewood police Sgt. Bob Major and his special investigators tried it out last month. A resident had tipped them that a massage parlor might be holding women inside.

Major deployed undercover detectives. On their second visit, a Chinese woman newly arrived from Arizona and a colleague offered the detectives sex for an extra $40, Major said.

Beyond ending prostitution, the goal of police was "to see if we could get them to cooperate on human trafficking."

The police called for help. A Mandarin interpreter and an immigration attorney arrived at police headquarters within three hours and helped conduct an interview with the Chinese woman and a colleague.

If the women were coerced and turned on traffickers, the police explained, they could be sheltered in a safehouse and issued special visas to stay in the country under federal law.

Female supervisors from the spa arrived at police headquarters and bailed them out of jail.

"We talk to a lot of these women. They tell us they're here of their own free will. But sometimes their families are threatened back home," Major said.

He and his detectives planned to use interpreters again when dealing with possible victims, he said. "Our message: If you help us, we will take care of you."

Staff Writer Bruce Finley can be reached at 303-954-1700 or bfinley@denverpost.com.


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Questions to ask on trafficking

What police trained to spot trafficking are looking for:

What type of work does this person do?

How many hours has this person worked today?

Is this person paid? Is this person in control of the money he or she earns?

Can this person leave free of coercion, manipulation or threats of violence?

Is this person in control of his or her own identification, documents, food, shelter and clothing?

Is this person hesitant to answer questions without the prompt or approval of somebody else?

Is this person under 18 and working in the sex industry?

Source: Colorado Network to End Human Trafficking