By Linda A Smith Samantha Healy Vardaman Melissa A Snow

The National Report on Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking: America’s Prostituted Children 63Dallas Police Department has been holding comprehensive trainings on the crime of domestic minor sextrafficking is Dallas, Texas. Although some professionals within government and social service entitiesin Dallas are not identifying child sex trafficking victims, these trainings have been closing the gap inawareness. 175 Groups in San Antonio were also found making admirable strides in garnering the necessaryawareness within first responder personnel.Lack of training within specific units and overall departments can hinder investigations of domestic minorsex trafficking crimes. Vice units are often the first units within a police department to be associated withthe investigation of prostitution of children; however, patrol units are critical in identifying victims. Forinstance, in Dallas an estimated 50% of domestic minor sex trafficking referrals to prosecutors originate inunits other than the vice unit, CE/HRVT Unit. 176 In 2006, 40% of domestic minor sex trafficking victimswere arrested by patrol officers. 177 In Salt Lake City, the vice unit is well-trained and has comprehensiveprotocols in place, but three other units within the department — the Sex Crimes/Crimes against ChildrenUnit, the Youth Division, and the Victim Advocate Program — which should have been involved in theresponse to domestic minor sex trafficking at the department level were not aware of the large numbers ofthese cases encountered by the vice unit. 178 The assessment in Fort Worth, Texas, found that six domesticminor sex trafficking victims had been identified through investigating a sexual assault of a minor reportor prostitution charges; two victims were identified when their pictures were posted as “escorts” on theInternet. 179The lack of training directly affects the identification and handling of a child sex trafficking case. Victimcenteredinterviewing techniques are necessary for all traumatized populations, but especially for children.When a domestically trafficked minor is not recognized as a child victim, these precautions are not taken.Unfortunately, despite the importance of training for domestic minor sex trafficking, funding forthis training is rare. In fact, Innocence Lost, an initiative by the Department of Justice to address theprostitution of children, recently lost its funding for training law enforcement. Additionally, the NationalHuman Trafficking Conferences sponsored by the Department of Justice have addressed humantrafficking of U.S. citizens and permanent residents only peripherally.Promising practices for training, protocols, and procedures.Training Across Departments and SystemsThough every assessment revealed a lack of training on domestic minor sex trafficking, promisingpractices have been illustrated through the work of innovative programs and initiatives. Successfulinitiatives train diverse cross-sections of professions and departments in recognition of the many avenuesthat domestically trafficked minors come into contact with governmental and non-governmental agenciesand systems. Law enforcement and prosecutors in San Antonio, Dallas, and Oakland are positiveexamples of this promising training method. In each of these cities, training on domestic minor sex175Hay, Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Assessment Report — Dallas, Texas, pg. 2.176Id. at pg. 21.177Kennedy and Pucci, Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Assessment Report — Las Vegas, Nevada, pg. 15.178Snow, Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Assessment Report — Salt Lake City, Utah, pg. 23.179Stevens, Eve, Smith and Bing, Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Assessment Report — Fort Worth, Texas, pg. 21.