While there are not many situations that invite praise or admiration on the news today, one story did offer a bit of hope. Thankfully, a month-long anti-human trafficking operation resulted in 48 arrests being made in National City and San Diego according to NBC San Diego. The sting entitled Operation Better Pathways involved law enforcement utilizing surveillance to monitor areas known for being hot zones for human trafficking in the area. 

Children Rescued

Thankfully, the operation not only led to the arrest of many predators, getting them off the street, but it also led to the rescue of eight children and the further support of 41 other people. One of the children rescued was a 13-year-old. Another was a 17-year-old girl along with her 21-year-old pregnant sister. San Diego Police Chief David Nisleit said that although this sting is a victory for the good guys, the number of human trafficking victims will only rise unless SB 357, which is the decriminalization of the act of loitering with the intent to commit prostitution, is repealed. Nisleit explained his position quite clearly with the statement he made, “How many more victims do we need to have of sex trafficking before we realize this is not a good law?”

SIA Doing Their Part

Saved in America, which is based out of the San Diego area, works daily to find missing and exploited girls who are believed victims of human trafficking. While they were not involved in this sting specifically, they too agree that the SB 357 law needs to be repealed to keep girls safer. Otherwise, the sex trafficking industry enjoys a legal win that can make it that much harder for law enforcement departments and organizations like SIA to get ahead of the evil that is committed on the streets. 

Sex trafficking numbers from California are appalling, with more than 1,300 cases just in 2021 being reported, a number higher than any other American state. These are just some of the hundreds of thousands who are exposed to the realities of the industry every year and don’t include any cases that were not reported as being human trafficking cases. Therefore, this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what is going on and why stings like this one as well as the work that SIA continues to do are so important.