Flagstaff, Arizona (azfamily) – The new Human Trafficking Task Force, the first of its kind, officially launched in the High Country this week.
It’s called North Star Task Force: Survivor-Informed Human Trafficking Awareness and Response. It involves Coconino County law enforcement and leaders, but also includes survivors of human trafficking as a key component of its outreach.
Northland Family Health CenterCoconino County’s leading human trafficking shelter provider, assisted approximately 250 human trafficking victims through its crisis hotline and provided shelter to 32 adults in 2024.
In that time frame, the county attorney’s office filed 37 accounts related to child trafficking or exploration.
While these are big numbers, Northland Family Health Center Director Michelle Rucker said a countywide task force aims to crack down on human trafficking in the high country.
“Human trafficking is not exempt in all communities in Arizona and northern Arizona,” Rucker said.
She said human trafficking in rural communities often happens internally in motels, massage parlors and sometimes the victims’ own homes.
“Children should not have to leave their homes to be sold to other individuals in our community,” Rucker said.
On major corridors like I-40 and I-17, truck stops also said they see human trafficking, but the people who pay for it, the customers, are often local.
“The fact that there is a demand for commercial sex here in our community. It’s not people coming from other communities. It’s the people who live in our community who are buying it.”
So, after years of work, the North Star Task Force was launched this week. Coconino County Attorney’s Office, Flagstaff Police Department, Coconino County Sheriff’s Office, NAU Police Department, Northland Family Help Center, and Applejack’s Ranch.
“The Star represents survivor-based human trafficking awareness and response,” said Savannah Sanders, executive director of Applejack’s Ranch.
Applejack’s Ranch is based in Cottonwood. It works with survivors of human trafficking and meets them where they are.
Since Sanders is a human trafficking survivor, she said having a survivor wise task force is huge.
“If we’re really going to address human trafficking from all sides, we need a lot of different, diverse voices,” Sanders said.
She hopes they can reach more people injured by human trafficking through the new task force.
“This is something I’ve been working on for the past 16 years,” Sanders said. “And it’s exciting for me to be able to see what it really looks like when groups come together to address all aspects of human trafficking and exploitation in rural communities.”
If you or a loved one has been affected by human trafficking, you can contact these organizations or the Arizona Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-877-4-Aztips (1-877-429-8477).
You can also contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or text “Help” to 233733.
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