LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – On Tuesday night, Las Vegas city officials brought more awareness to human trafficking in the valley.
Informing the public what they should look out for at a prevention event held at the Veterans Memorial Community Center in Summerlin.
“As a leader, when I found out that Las Vegas was number two in human trafficking across the nation, I felt a responsibility to bring awareness to the community,” Las Vegas City Councilwoman, Ward 2, Victora Seaman shared.
Those in attendance were able to view a film that exposed how predators operate to entice and ultimately control their victims.
Human trafficking is the second largest criminal industry in the world, and The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s vice section recovered 90 children from sex trafficking in 2022.
Susanna Guarino is a parent and told 8 News Now that after watching the recent movie release, Sound of Freedom, the topic of human trafficking is now on her radar.
“I have a daughter who is 10, and these are things that are going on that I want to be more aware of,” she said.
Carolyn Wheeler senior manager of community relations at the Mirage resort said with so many events coming to Las Vegas in the next couple of months, there’s no time like the present to make sure people are informed.
“Some of the events that we are looking forward to enjoying such as Formula One and the Super Bowl tend to be large magnets for human traffickers so the timing for Councilwoman Seaman to be doing this event is on target,” Wheeler shared.
In 2022, the LVMPD vice section arrested 330 traffickers, 40 arrests were made for sex trafficking a child, and 88 arrests were made for sex trafficking an adult.
