Law enforcement agencies in New Jersey are preparing to halt sex trafficking efforts from occurring during next month's Super Bowl at MetLife Stadium, NBC News reported.
Because of the hundreds of thousands of people that are expected to attend the major Feb. 2 event -- with close proximity to major highways and New York City -- authorities are doubling down to prevent traffickers from taking advantage of the event.
"New Jersey has a huge trafficking problem," said U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, (R-N.J.), who also co-chairs the House anti-human trafficking caucus. "One Super Bowl after another after another has shown itself to be one of the largest events in the world where the cruelty of human trafficking goes on for several weeks."
Though efforts against forced prostitution have been successful in New Jersey, a human trafficking law was halted last year after a federal jugde determined a part of the law interferes with federal legislation. The state is currently appealing the ruling.
Despite the minor statistics demonstrating an increase in sex trafficking during a large sporting event like the Super Bowl, host cities and the surrounding law enforcement are still adamant in paying close attention.
Danielle Douglas, an anti-sex trafficking advocate and survivor, said major events such as the Super Bowl are attractive to traffickers looking to cash in quickly.
"The Super Bowl is a huge, huge arena for sex trafficking," Douglas said. Some people "are coming to the Super Bowl not even to watch football - they are coming to the Super Bowl to have sex with women, and/or men or children."
NBC reports that shortly after MetLife was declared as the host city, authorities in New Jersey began creating training sessions for law enforcement personnel, hospitality workers, high school students, airport employees, and others on signs of sex trafficking.
Additionally, houses of worship are handing out fliers to their congregations and truckers are being asked to look out for people -- mainly women, but men as well -- that may be held against their will. As the New Jersey attorney general's office notes, in order for anyone to be prosecuted for sex trafficking, a pimp and/or trafficker that controls the transaction but be involved aside from the buyer and seller.
"We've enlisted, basically, every service provider that people coming to the Super Bowl are going to run into," Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman said. "There are a lot of eyes that are going to be on their activities and going to be on spotting potential victims of this crime."
