The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office has dedicated two deputies to exclusively handling sex trafficking cases.
The department says there are currently an estimated 30 to 50 sex trafficking victims in Yavapai County.
Dismantling sex trafficking rings can be especially difficult as they typically spend short periods of time in an area and victims are often fearful to report their situation.
The new Human Trafficking Investigators will focus solely on assisting these victims.
They’ll work with Yavapai County’s multi-agency Partners Against Narcotics Trafficking taskforce.
The positions are funded by the Anti-Human Trafficking Grant approved by the Arizona State Legislature and signed by Gov. Katie Hobbs.