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Understanding Law Enforcement Strategies and Needs for Combating Human Trafficking

Published: 02 May 2019 Publication History

Abstract

In working to rescue victims of human trafficking, law enforcement officers face a host of challenges. Working in complex, layered organizational structures, they face challenges of collaboration and communication. Online information is central to every phase of a human-trafficking investigation. With terabytes of available data such as sex work ads, policing is increasingly a big-data research problem. In this study, we interview sixteen law enforcement officers working to rescue victims of human trafficking to try to understand their computational needs. We highlight three major areas where future work in human-computer interaction can help. First, combating human trafficking requires advances in information visualization of large, complex, geospatial data, as victims are frequently forcibly moved across jurisdictions. Second, the need for unified information databases raises critical research issues of usable security and privacy. Finally, the archaic nature of information systems available to law enforcement raises policy issues regarding resource allocation for software development.

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Cited By

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  • (2023)Exploring Private Investigation Agencies’ Experience of Collaboration with Law Enforcement in Investigations of Human Trafficking CasesSocieties10.3390/soc1302004413:2(44)Online publication date: 13-Feb-2023
  • (2023)Slipping through the cracks‐detection of sex trafficking in the adult emergency department: An integrative reviewJournal of Clinical Nursing10.1111/jocn.1672732:17-18(5948-5958)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
  • (2023)Trust-Based Classification in Community Policing: A Systematic Review2023 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS)10.1109/ISTAS57930.2023.10306181(1-8)Online publication date: 13-Sep-2023
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    cover image ACM Conferences
    CHI '19: Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
    May 2019
    9077 pages
    ISBN:9781450359702
    DOI:10.1145/3290605
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    Published: 02 May 2019

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    Author Tags

    1. human trafficking
    2. law enforcement
    3. needs analysis
    4. qualitative

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    View all
    • (2023)Exploring Private Investigation Agencies’ Experience of Collaboration with Law Enforcement in Investigations of Human Trafficking CasesSocieties10.3390/soc1302004413:2(44)Online publication date: 13-Feb-2023
    • (2023)Slipping through the cracks‐detection of sex trafficking in the adult emergency department: An integrative reviewJournal of Clinical Nursing10.1111/jocn.1672732:17-18(5948-5958)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
    • (2023)Trust-Based Classification in Community Policing: A Systematic Review2023 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS)10.1109/ISTAS57930.2023.10306181(1-8)Online publication date: 13-Sep-2023
    • (2022)Reframing Human Trafficking to Enhance Multidisciplinary CollaborationPaths to the Prevention and Detection of Human Trafficking10.4018/978-1-6684-3926-5.ch014(286-310)Online publication date: 10-Jun-2022
    • (2022)Operations research and analytics to combat human trafficking: A systematic review of academic literaturePLOS ONE10.1371/journal.pone.027370817:8(e0273708)Online publication date: 29-Aug-2022
    • (2022)Adherence to Misinformation on Social Media Through Socio-Cognitive and Group-Based ProcessesProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/35555896:CSCW2(1-35)Online publication date: 11-Nov-2022
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    • (2022)Ethical Tensions in Applications of AI for Addressing Human Trafficking: A Human Rights PerspectiveProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/35551866:CSCW2(1-29)Online publication date: 11-Nov-2022
    • (2022)Do as I say, not as I do: Therapist Evaluation of a Practice and Supervision AidProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/35551856:CSCW2(1-23)Online publication date: 11-Nov-2022
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