How Spotlight Has Transformed the Fight Against Child Sex Trafficking by Investigator in Texas

Child sex trafficking is one of the darkest realities of our world, yet within that darkness, there are glimmers of hope—hope that comes from those dedicated to fighting this horrific crime and the innovative tools that empower us to do so more effectively. For more than a decade I have been fighting against the world’s underbelly, domestic minor sex trafficking.

Over the last decade, I have focused on victim recovery, working to remove children from dangerous situations while ensuring their long-term safety, supporting their healing, and holding their traffickers accountable. 

One of, if not the, most powerful tools in that fight is Spotlight, a cutting-edge technology that has transformed the way children are identified and recovered from sex trafficking. Before I learned about Spotlight, we had to print off sex ads and manually sift through thousands of online ads one by one, while drawing connections with a pen and paper to locate a single victim.   Spotlight changed that dynamic. 

Spotlight leverages machine learning and big data to help quickly analyze online sex ad content, review historical patterns, and identify potential victims with much greater speed and accuracy. 

Not only does Spotlight make it easier to identify and locate victims, but it also helps connect the sex ads faster when it comes to targeting traffickers. Traffickers often operate across multiple jurisdictions, making it difficult to track or predict their activities. The software’s ability to cross-reference data across locations and patterns in near real time allows officers to not only track the historical ad placement, but to identify potential areas they may be traveling to.

Without any question, the fight against child sex trafficking is littered with difficulty. Traffickers are constantly evolving their methods, exploiting new technologies, new websites, and finding ways to avoid law enforcement detection.  One of the biggest challenges is keeping up with the sheer volume of sex ads within the jurisdiction you serve, and the complexity of the trafficking operations we’re trying to put an end to.  Traffickers often avoid detection just through the volume alone, as investigators are often looking for a literal needle in a haystack.  

This is where Spotlight has been an invaluable tool in the fight against trafficking.  The software’s ability to automate time-consuming tasks, like scanning and analyzing online advertisements, has freed up valuable time so we can focus on recovery efforts in the field. By helping to narrow leads more quickly, efforts can be prioritized, and children can more quickly be removed from harm.  Spotlight's ability to sort through large amounts of data helps overcome one of the biggest hurdles in victim identification—time. Where I once spent days or weeks trying to locate scattered information, Spotlight gives answers in hours.

Spotlight has unequivocally changed how law enforcement conducts investigations when it comes to trafficking. It has, at a minimum, leveled the playing field, and on many occasions given law enforcement the upper hand, leaving us with the cards to deal.  The days of sitting down with the binder full of printed-out sex ads are gone since Spotlight came into the picture.  

We all know and agree that child sex trafficking is a devastating issue, but it’s one that everyone one of us can play a role in combating. Most people don’t realize how prevalent this issue really is, or how close to home it can hit. Trafficking isn’t something that just happens in foreign countries, or across our international borders—it’s happening in our own communities, and in our own backyards. 

Raising awareness is an important part of ending human trafficking. The more people understand the importance of technology, especially tools like Spotlight, the more powerful our fight against the scourge of human trafficking becomes. Everyday individuals who wonder what their role in the fight is can help by donating, volunteering, and spreading awareness within their communities. The fight against child sex trafficking is not just one for law enforcement or advocacy groups—it’s one that requires each and every one of us.

Want to learn more about how online grooming and trafficking recruitment starts for youth? We've created an entire guide to walk you through how it starts and how you can be a part of finding kids faster.