Bay Area Officers Step Up Efforts To End Human Trafficking
OAKLAND (KCBS) - Law enforcement officials in the Bay Area are looking to put every available resource possible towards ending human trafficking and exploitation, which has been likened to modern day slavery.
Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts said children as young as 12 are often lured off the streets by pimps, who are looking to cash in.
He said the child is always the victim.
KCBS' Dave Padilla Reports:
"You're then raped, you're molested, you're abused, you're captured and you can't get away," Batts said.
The Human Exploitation and Trafficking Watch program was started in Alameda County by District Attorney Nancy O'Malley.
"We're now taking that program to San Francisco and Contra Costa County and then eventually," she said. "We will be including the nine Bay Area counties in our Bay Area Human Trafficking Coalition."
The regional H.E.A.T. Watch program will target pimps and provide a safe haven for the young victims.
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