The mission of the Los Angeles Task Force on Human Trafficking is to increase the identification of trafficking victims through proactive law enforcement tactics and cooperation, to increase the successful prosecution of traffickers through multi-jurisdictional law enforcement cooperation, to develop a practical service protocol, to develop and provide training and support for law enforcement to proactively identify, rescue, and place victims with service providers, and to ensure victim safety and access to needed services.

The Los Angeles Metropolitan Task Force on Human Trafficking (LAMTF-HT) was launched in January 2005 under the leadership of the Los Angeles Police Department, Robbery-Homicide Division. The LAMTF-HT is a multi-agency consortium created to address the complex problem of human trafficking in the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area, which includes both the City and County of Los Angeles. The Task Force is a partnership comprised of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies as well as prosecution agencies working collaboratively with victim and social service organizations in the identification of trafficked victims and the conviction of persons engaged in severe forms of human trafficking.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has funded 42 law enforcement related task force throughout the United States in an effort to combat trafficking and heighten the awareness of the most egregious violation of human rights. The DOJ task forces are all comprised of federal, state, and local enforcement agencies in conjunction with victim and social service providers to address the problem of human trafficking. The LAMTF-HT was one of the first task forces to receive the multi-year grant award of $450,000 from the Department of Justice to develop training protocols for law enforcement, increase public awareness of human trafficking, and increase the prosecution of traffickers.

The Task Force moved forward by establishing alliances with non-governmental organizations (NGO) and local, State, Federal law enforcement agencies. Goals were identified and subcommittees created. The overall performance goals and anticipated outcome for law enforcement as it relates to the grant award is to increase by 15 percent each the number of "trafficking victim saves" within the program-funded jurisdiction. The following goals were established to aide in reaching this goal:

• To increase identification of trafficking victims.
• Assist trafficking victims with applications for T-Visas and continued presence in the United States as mandated by law.
• Development of service protocols for response to human trafficking incidents.
• Conduct a strategy that supports a strong law enforcement role in public awareness and outreach.
• Identify and collaborate with community stakeholders in an effort to eliminate trafficking in human subjects.

The Task Force has achieved the following accomplishments:

• Completed the Human Trafficking Roll Call Training Video and Lesson Plan and trained all LAPD uniformed and detective personnel in December 2006. Also, the completed a generic roll call human trafficking video and lesson plan that was forwarded to 80 outside law enforcement agencies throughout the metropolitan Los Angeles area.
• Developed a public awareness campaign consisting of concept design, slogan, and logo. These items were imposed on billboards throughout the Los Angeles metropolitan area.
• Established a local 800 Human Trafficking Hotline. The line is answered by trained personnel 24-hours a day. Calls are confidential and language translation services are available for non-English callers, which is a vital component since a great majority of trafficked victims do not speak English.
• Created and aired Public Service Announcements (PSA) on Movin 93.9 Radio Station. The PSA was used to inform the public about human trafficking as well as direct them to call the 800 Hotline regarding possible trafficking victims and/or locations.
• Printed 50,000 bumper stickers that will be adhered to all City and County vehicles to further heighten awareness of human trafficking and direct callers to the 800 Hotline.
• Task force members have provided awareness training to hundreds of individuals and will continue to provide training to City employees and the general public. Through these training sessions individuals learn what human trafficking is, what the indicators are and most importantly they learn where to get information or assistance.