Authorities say Super Bowl-timed human trafficking sweeps net dozens of arrests, rescues in Bay Area

SAN JOSE — A Bay Area-wide enforcement sweep targeting human trafficking leading up to this month’s Super Bowl yielded 29 arrests and the rescue of 73 people suspected of being forced into sex work, authorities announced Thursday.

The Santa Clara County Human Trafficking Task Force helped coordinate a two-week crackdown leading up to the Feb. 8 game involving law enforcement from 11 counties covering the greater Bay Area, according to the district attorney’s office, which runs the task force.

Among the reputed 73 sex-trafficking victims found by authorities were 10 minors, including a 12-year-old being trafficked in Oakland, the DA’s office said in a news release.

“Beyond football, the Super Bowl was a triumph of Bay Area law enforcement planning, organization, cooperation, and safety. Human trafficking is not a game, it’s a tragedy,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement.

The sweep entailed nearly 40 separate operations, and among the highlights were the rescue of 20 reported victims in San Mateo County, 17 in Contra Costa County, and seven in Santa Clara County, authorities said. The highest single total of trafficking arrests was made in Contra Costa County with seven.

Law enforcement worked with several civilian organizations including the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, In Our Backyard, Community Solutions, and several county social-welfare agencies.

With six World Cup soccer matches set to take place at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara from June 13 to July 1, the same task force expects to ramp up its work again ahead of those events and accompanying festivities, according to the news release.

Prior to Thursday’s release, individual police agencies had highlighted related child-exploitation investigations also timed with the attention that the Super Bowl brings to the topic. That includes an online sting by the San Jose Police Department in which detectives posed as minors on social-media platforms and forums and identified and arrested men who solicited them for sex.

Among the dozen arrests in that sting was a San Jose middle school assistant principal, police said.

Other jurisdictions have seized on the increased attention to human trafficking to highlight funding allocations and policy changes to address the issue.

In San Mateo County, officials last week allocated more than $830,000 to fund anti-human trafficking work and support for domestic-violence survivors.

On Tuesday, the Oakland City Council approved an ordinance to increase the fines on people who facilitate rampant sex trafficking occurring at locations including International Boulevard in East Oakland.

The new city law focuses on those profiting and perpetuating from the trade — namely, buyers and sellers — rather than the women and girls who are often exploited, and directs the fine dollars toward victim support groups. Loitering fines have been upped to as high as $8,000 for repeat offenses, and trafficking fines reach up to $20,000 for repeat instances, with all fines tripled if minors are involved. Additionally, property owners who knowingly tolerate “lewdness or prostitution” could be subject to $2,500 in nuisance fines.