Interviewing Victims and Suspects of Sex Trafficking as a Law Enforcement Officer
Wesley D. Jones | September 20 | 9:00-10:00 AM
Topic: Law Enforcement | Knowledge Level: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced | Location: Room 2592
The transition from Law Enforcement Offer to conducting a trauma-informed, victim-based interview can be difficult. Knowing how to interview victims and suspects of sex trafficking is the foundation to conducting a successful trafficking investigation from initial contact to prosecution. Most Officers, especially those that are new to sex trafficking investigations, have not been equipped with the necessary tools to conduct a successful interview in this type of investigation. This presentation will arm Officers with techniques designed to circumvent the need to “be the police” when dealing with victims of sex trafficking. This presentation will discuss constitutional legal parameters that an Officer needs to be knowledgeable of when conducting interviews. Finally, this presentation will outline questions that need to guide a trafficking interview in order to get an arrest of the trafficker to provide justice to the victim. Attendees to this presentation should not just be limited to Law Enforcement Personnel. This presentation will provide helpful insight to any individual or organization that works with police to combat human trafficking. Detective Jones is no stranger to working with non-governmental organizations as he currently serves on the Human Trafficking Rescue Alliance. HTRA is an interagency organization with several NGOs and law enforcement agencies teaming together to combat trafficking from all angles.
Presentation Objectives:
· Discuss the need to get away from a traditional police mindset
· Discuss Miranda as it applies to trafficking interviews
· Describe tools and questions to guide a sex trafficking interview to be useful for an investigation
· List investigative techniques that can be performed prior to an interview to assist in a successful interview
· Provide insight to the mind of a police officer conducting an interview