NCMEC’s Child Sex Trafficking Team (CSTT) is a Powerhouse of Support for Law Enforcement

By: Heather V and Nor W

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) serves as the congressionally designated clearinghouse and national resource center to help find missing children, reduce child exploitation, and prevent child victimization.? We lead the fight to protect children, creating vital resources for them and the people who keep them safe. In the nearly 40 years since its founding, NCMEC has grown to become the nation’s largest and most influential child protection organization on missing and exploited children issues.?

When NCMEC receives reports of missing children, we work to help locate and support the recovery of the missing child by providing a range of programs and services, including: (1) a 24/7 Call Center (1-800-THE-LOST); (2) case management support for parents, child welfare agencies, and law enforcement; (3) forensic services on long-term missing child cases and cases of unidentified deceased children; (4) analytical resources to develop leads and assist in recovering missing children and those exploited through sex trafficking; (5) family and peer support for families experiencing a missing or exploited child; and (6) a Child Sex Trafficking Recovery Services Team to provide specialized technical assistance and resources to child welfare professionals. In 2023, of the more than 28,800 children reported missing to NCMEC, 1 in 6 was likely a victim of child sex trafficking.? While any child can be targeted by a trafficker, research, data and insight from survivors have revealed traffickers and buyers often target youth who lack strong support networks, have experienced violence in the past, are experiencing homelessness, or are marginalized by society.? When youth feel like they are not loved, supported in their identity, or don’t belong they become even more vulnerable to unsafe situations.? This is why children who are missing, especially children who have run away, are a primary target for traffickers and one of the reasons why NCMEC plays a central role in supporting their identification and recovery.

NCMEC’s Child Sex Trafficking Team (CSTT) leverages the information within missing child cases and CyberTipline reports, donated analytical resources, and specialized technology tools to provide law enforcement with information that can assist in the location and recovery of the missing child exploited through sex trafficking.? CSTT analysts have the unique ability to conduct searches and find links within hundreds of thousands of missing child cases nationwide reported to NCMEC and over a hundred million CyberTipline reports related to suspected child sexual exploitation from around the world. This link analysis resource can be invaluable in connecting information about both potential child victims and offenders to other ongoing cases, including other missing children.

In 2023, NCMEC received over 18,400 reports of possible child sex trafficking.? Each of these were handled by NCMEC’s CSTT who leverage publicly available data and donated technology tools to further develop leads and support law enforcements efforts to recover missing and exploited children.?? CSTT analysts also add value by searching prior reports received by NCMEC to identify matches based on names, telephone numbers, email addresses, and more! Donated technology tools support the analyst’s ability to compare the known information in a missing child case to what is posted publicly online in escort ads.? This comparison can help develop immediately actionable information indicating a missing child’s current location providing an opportunity for law enforcement to intervene and disrupt the victimization of the child through sex trafficking. It’s common for us to see a child who was originally trafficked in one state continue to be trafficked in other locations within a state and across multiple states.? This movement can make law enforcement recovery efforts challenging.? Therefore, when NCMEC’s analysts find an online escort advertisements that depict a child reported missing to NCMEC this team springs into action, immediately sharing the lead with law enforcement in both locations.? This information can target law enforcement efforts toward the correct location to increase the possibility of a successful recovery.

It's important to remember that children who are victims of child sex trafficking are often in survival mode and may not be able to identify as a victim or be in a place where they feel safe enough to disclose victimization.? This can be due to shame, guilt, or manipulation. And in many situations, they have been coached or indoctrinated by their exploiters to not trust law enforcement.? Therefore, planning for the moment of recovery to ensure a trauma-informed response, is just as important as the recovery itself.? Survivors of child sex trafficking have shared how they were treated during the moment of recovery had a significant impact on their views of law enforcement, willingness to trust the help being offered, and ability to assist with any future investigation or prosecution. It’s also important to bear in mind that traffickers don't always fit into traditional stereotypes as often portrayed in entertainment or the media. Often the trafficker has a position of trust in a child's life. This highlights a critical reason to report missing and sexually exploited children to NCMEC, as information provided can yield insight about past and current cases, and aid in the recovery of those children who are missing or being victimized through child sex trafficking.

NCMEC’s CSTT can support sworn law enforcement in the following ways:

• Analytical support and internal deconfliction searches on any child sex trafficking case/investigation;
• Advance operational support by providing information on children missing in your targeted location who are likely victims of child sex trafficking;
• Assistance developing trauma-informed recovery plans for missing children who are suspected of being exploited;?
• Analytical support to develop leads for law enforcement working active missing child cases with concerns or confirmation of child sex trafficking; and,
• Connection to NCMEC’s Child Sex Trafficking Recovery Services Team for support in recovery planning.

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For more information on this team or to request law enforcement support please call 1-800-THE-LOST and ask to speak with the Child Sex Trafficking Analytical Team.? We are a FREE resource and stand ready to assist and support your efforts to combat child sex trafficking.?

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