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Success In the Field

Guest Author
25
Child Sex TraffickingSuccess In the Field
August 9, 2018

Using Spotlight to investigate human trafficking

The following post was written by Kyle Woods and Kyle Hartsock, detectives inside the Ghost Unit, with the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office. Through their work investigating human trafficking cases, they use Spotlight regularly to aid in investigations. We’ve asked them…
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Guest Author
55
Child Sex TraffickingSuccess In the Field
June 7, 2018

This is what human trafficking looks like.

The following post was written by Kyle Woods and Kyle Hartsock, detectives inside the Ghost Unit, with the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office. Through their work investigating human trafficking cases, they use Spotlight regularly to aid in investigations. We’ve asked them…
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Guest Author
24
Child Sex TraffickingSuccess In the Field
April 24, 2018

Inside Human Trafficking Investigations

The following post was written by Matt Blumenthal, a sergeant with the San Diego County Sheriff's Department. Matt has been with the department for 23 years and is currently a supervisor at the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force. As…
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Kristin Boorse
19
Success In the FieldTechnology For Good
October 25, 2016

Spotlight Helps Law Enforcement Identify Victims of Sex Trafficking Faster

The genesis of Spotlight started after we conducted a sex trafficking Survivor Survey in 2012, seeking to learn directly from victims how technology was used throughout their trafficking situation.  We found that sixty-three percent of underage sex trafficking victims reported…
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Julie Cordua
13
trafficking-and-tech
Child Sex TraffickingPartnersSuccess In the Field
March 3, 2016

Trafficking and Technology: A Cross-Sector Approach

In the fall of 2014, our team went to Phoenix to present to the Arizona Human Trafficking Council. We shared a new tool we had just developed called Spotlight, that leverages machine learning algorithms and insight from officers in the…
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Thorn Staff
11
collaborative-tech
Child Sex TraffickingNewsPartnersSuccess In the Field
February 22, 2016

Collaborative Technology Aids Super Bowl Trafficking Sting

On February 4th, I flew out to the San Francisco Bay Area to support our law enforcement partners in Super Bowl sting operations. In addition to other methods, officers used the anti-human trafficking tool we developed with Digital Reasoning, called…
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Thorn Staff
20
PartnersSuccess In the FieldTechnology For Good
February 6, 2016

Fighting Child Exploitation Through Intelligent Technology

The following post was submitted by Tim Estes, CEO and Founder of Digital Reasoning, one of our technology partners. Digital Reasoning employs a machine-learning platform that automates the understanding of human communications. In 2000, everyone was starting a business. The…
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Thorn Staff
6
Child Sex TraffickingSuccess In the Field
February 3, 2016

Thorn joins law enforcement, nonprofits to tackle human trafficking for Super Bowl 50

Thorn will join our partners in the San Francisco Bay Area to support their efforts against human trafficking leading up to Super Bowl 50 this Sunday. Major national events like the Super Bowl tend to bring about an influx of…
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Thorn Staff
4
Sex Trafficking Sting
Success In the Field
January 21, 2016

Seattle Sex Trafficking Sting Operation Targets Buyers

Earlier this month, local law enforcement and FBI in King County, Washington made significant gains in the fight against sex trafficking with an unprecedented operation that targeted illegal sex buyers. Along with seizing The Review Board, the highest-used erotic review site…
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Thorn Staff
8
Child Sex TraffickingSuccess In the Field
October 16, 2015

Spotlight Tool Aids In Recovery of Child Sex Trafficking Victims

Last week, the FBI led its latest nationwide effort to combat child sex trafficking, Operation Cross Country. Carried out in partnership with various state and local law enforcement agencies, Operation Cross Country IX helped identify 149 underaged victims of sex…
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