The way law enforcement officials respond to human trafficking is already changing in Ohio, but the state's Attorney General Dave Yost suggests there is more that can be done.
Ohio's new human trafficking hotline is up and running, funneling tips on sex and labor trafficking to police in the state. There is also a new law going into effect on Oct. 24 that allows human trafficking survivors to apply for expungement of conviction records for misdemeanor fourth- and fifth-degree felonies they committed while being trafficked.
Expungement is not automatic and people must go through a hearing process.
Yost said the hotline and this law are one example of how law enforcement's treatment of crimes and crime victims is changing.
Yost spoke on "All Sides with Anna Staver" on Thursday about human trafficking, a little over a week after a statewide summit on the issue took place in Columbus.
One change Yost said is on the horizon is that the state is focusing more on forced labor human trafficking.
Yost said forced labor human trafficking is no less frequent than sex trafficking. He said law enforcement in Ohio is trying to target these labor violations more than in the past.
"We see this happening not everywhere, but it happens in manufacturing. It happens in agriculture. And one of our initiatives this year is to expand the work we're doing in sex trafficking to labor trafficking as well," Yost said.
Yost said there is a lot people don't understand about human trafficking in Ohio. He said one reason the state usually ranks in the top in the U.S. for human trafficking violations is because of the state's general geography.
"People sometimes talk about Ohio as being the crossroads of America. We've got major interstates going north and south and east and west with I-80, I-70... About two-thirds of the population of America is within a single day drive of Ohio. That combined with our ports on the lake and the river, make it a place where people come through a lot for all kinds of things, including human trafficking," Yost said.
Yost said people don't understand that a lot of trafficking victims are now preyed upon through the internet.
"They're not lurking in the bushes. The predators are lurking in your child's phone," Yost said.
Yost also said the state is trying to get victims to recognize that police officers are trying to help, rather than hurt victims. He said the actions of officers like former Columbus vice officer Andrew Mitchell gave police officers a bad rap.
"On the extremes, people like Andrew Mitchell, a Columbus police officer, a vice cop who acted in a way that it was just horrible," Yost said.
Mitchell faced murder charges for killing Donna Castleberry in a 2018 sting operation. He was acquitted of the murder charges, but plead guilty to federal charges for depriving Castleberry of her human rights. He was sentenced to spend more than six years in federal prison.
Castleberry was working as a prostitute when Mitchell killed her in 2018.
Yost said Ohio is working to recognize that trafficking survivors are crime victims and need to be treated humanely.
Yost also said punishments for sex trafficking could be harsher in Ohio, but it is a tough question on whether harsher punishments should be proposed.
"Ten years is probably enough in the sense of punishment. I'm not sure it's enough for the rest of us for public safety. I think there are crimes that you can commit against society that are so dramatic, (for example) a child rape, that you just don't deserve to be a free person anymore," Yost said.
If you or someone you know is a victim of sex trafficking, you can contact the Ohio Hotline for Trafficking, by calling 1-844-363-6448.
