Thousands of fans will descend on New York and New Jersey for Super Bowl XLVIII — and experts say
human traffickers will be lurking behind them.
The criminals, as with past Super Bowls, hope to use the large crowds to sell people forced into prostitution. Their hope is that they will find illicit clients who may be more willing to engage in reckless behavior, experts say.
Law enforcement agencies and advocacy groups in both states have been gearing up for the problem for more than year. While people are partying during the game, officials will be running undercover operations, monitoring online classifieds and passing out fliers in hopes of thwarting the crimes.
"Anytime there is a large event that is primarily male-attended and there's a party atmosphere, that will result in incidents of human trafficking," said Nita Belles, who has worked during the last four Super Bowls with a coalition to prevent trafficking. "There is a 'boys will be boys' mentality."
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/01/18/super-bowl-human-trafficking-sex/4592381/
Check out these related stories from Jan.15, 2014:
New federal effort to fight human trafficking unveiled
10 things you didn't know about slavery, human trafficking (and what you can do about it)
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