A new task force has been formed in Missouri to combat human trafficking.

Scott County Sheriff Rick Walter was among about 20 people selected for the group and will use his experience in law enforcement to contribute.

State Rep. Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, was selected to chair the Human Trafficking Task Force that was created by legislation he sponsored during the 2015 legislative session.

"Missouri sits as the crossroads between East and West coasts. With the I-44 and I-70 corridors, we are at particular risk of being a high trafficking area," Haahr said via email. "Also, the DOJ (Department of Justice) listed St. Louis as one of the top 20 trafficking destinations in the country."

In conjunction with Senate Speaker Pro-Tem Tom Dempsey, R-St. Charles, and House Speaker Todd Richardson, R-Poplar Bluff, Haahr said they selected a list of recommended people.

Rep. Elijah Haahr

"In coming up with a list of recommended people, we worked to get a diverse cross-section of law enforcement, judicial, governmental and non-governmental members who could provide a well-balanced view of the issues," Haahr said via email.

Walter said he is excited to begin working with the team to bring awareness to the public about human trafficking. Walter said it's an issue he's been concerned with for many years.

"There's a couple different forms of it, and it's modern-day slavery is what it is," Walter said. "It's actually slavery, and labor trafficking -- that's a big thing, and it's not what a lot of people think about when they think about human trafficking. A lot of times they think about migrant workers being exploited and brought in and used to do their labor, but there's also sex trafficking, which is a huge problem."

The average ages of children brought into trafficking are between 12 and 14, Walter said.

"This is a huge industry; it's a multibillion-dollar-a-year industry in the United States," Walter said. "It's second to drug sales -- the top three being drug sales, human trafficking and then arms sales, so as far as in the criminal world this thing is huge, and I don't think that a lot of people understand it. They understand the drug sales, that they're a major problem, then there's the guns, the arms sales. But nobody thinks about human trafficking as slavery."

Haahr said the three main goals of the task force are to take testimony around the state to determine what problems and resources the state has, provide recommendations to the Legislature to enact into law and raise awareness of the problem.

Walter said he hopes through educating the public and law enforcement they can bring an end to human trafficking.

"We set up a class last year with the Missouri Sheriff's Association where we taught a two-hour block, informing all the sheriffs in the state of Missouri about it. Some were aware of it; some were kind of surprised," Walter said.

"Something else we want to look at is we want to take away the market, so we look at other departments across the state where they're not just targeting the prostitutes, they're targeting the jobs ... and by bringing those people to the forefront, that's going to take away a lot from the trade."

There are about 100,000 children and adults involved in human trafficking nationally, Walter said, with 200,000 more at risk.

The first meeting for the task force is Aug. 25 in Jefferson City, Missouri. By Jan. 1, the group will report a summary of its activities and make recommendations for legislation to the General Assembly.

smaue@semissourian.com

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