In an announcement made by the Los Angeles County Sheriff on Tuesday there are dozens of sexually exploited children and hundreds of people that were arrested and adult victims that were rescued across California in a statewide operation that sought to combat human trafficking.
The third annual Operation Reclaim and Rebuild enforcement operation involved more than 30 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and task forces, including the Los Angeles Regional Human Trafficking Task Force. The operation was conducted over a three-day period between last Thursday and Saturday.
The Sheriff’s Department released figures that show that the total number of arrests that was made amounted to 474, this included 142 males on solicitation charges, and 36 males on suspicion of pimping. In addition, a total of 28 children were exploited commercially and sexually and 27 adult victims were also rescued.
Sheriff Jim McDonnell made a statement as he addressed the victims during a news conference in which he told the victims that they are worthy of more, adding that they will work tirelessly with their partners to provide the victims with services and help them rebuild their lives.
Various children and family services agencies across the state were taking care of the minors who were recovered during the operation. Efforts to help the victims in L.A. County were being coordinated by the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking in collaboration with the Saving Innocence organization.
The Operation Reclaim and Rebuild focused on rescuing victims of sexual slavery and human trafficking, providing victims with the much-needed services, identifying and arresting their captors, seeking successful prosecutions, and disrupting the demand for vulnerable victims by targeting their customers.
Trafficking task forces and police agencies joined hands as they carried out the operation in California to send a clear message that California law enforcement shares a unified mandate to make sure that human trafficking is not tolerated.
