New Team To Tackle Human Trafficking in Leeds
A new team has been set up in West Yorkshire to crack down on human trafficking
A dedicated new team of detectives has been put together to combat human trafficking in Leeds
It's after the number of victims being rescued by West Yorkshire Police doubled.
DCI Warren Stevenson is heading up the team.
“People are prepared to report it more,” he told us.
“But there has been an increase in the human trafficking side of the work and what’s been seen to go unreported. I think the work the police are doing in West Yorkshire will get these people to come forward and I’m fairly sure we’ll see a further increase in the coming months.”
The specialist unit is the first to be formed outside of London, and the third of its kind in the country.
Police and Crime Commissioner Mark Burns Williamson told Radio Aire why it's needed here: “We’ve certainly seen victims in Leeds and Bradford from Eastern Europe.
“There’s been definite organised benefit fraud, for example, and forced labour and sexual exploitation. They’re all very serious crimes and we need to be doing more collectively to address this.”
The team will work both locally and nationally to target organised crime lords seeking to traffic people into West Yorkshire.
It’s been set up as part of West Yorkshire's Serious and Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) and will use the full range of tactics and techniques used to investigate the most complex criminal cases.
Work by the detectives will be complemented by the start-up of a West Yorkshire Anti Trafficking Network (WYATN) with charity Hope For Justice which will train almost 3,500 police staff about how to spot the signs.
“It is happening,” added DCI Stevenson.
“It might be in houses next door to you on your street. These are people that are being brought in that are being asked to do things – like committing petty crime or working the car washes – and people haven’t been aware of how to report it or where to report it.”