As Max pointed out earlier, human trafficking is indeed a large problem, mostly in the border areas however the border areas are just the gateway to the interior where the end-users are, such as in Utah as Max talked about, among many other places in the USA. Trafficking for everything from general indentured servitude to sex trafficking, all of that is seen. From smuggling, to so-called drop houses where traffickees are kept while in transit (in some homes that people would never even suspect, in some upper middle class areas), to when they’re separated individually from a group and moved in that way.
These people aren’t only transported in the trunks of cars or stuffed like sardines in the back of a u-haul anymore or the trailer of a semi; for the individual trafickees being moved, they’re more and more often being moved in plain sight, on normal modes of transportation. Hence where the airlines have come up with training for FAs (and I would imagine, possibly gate agents or ticket agents) to try and spot certain indicators that may indicate some kind of trafficking situation…..persons who have the most customer interaction. It’s a noble gesture, as these modes of transportation have been being used, and it has had success in finding actual cases that may have otherwise gone unnoticed. Same training has gone towards train, ship, and bus lines personnel. These organizations have a vested interest in not having their modes of transportation used for this purpose. Bad for business in any number of ways.
All that said, does that mean every situation that meets certain indicators is automatically a trafficking situation? Of course not. All that it means is that it may warrant a further look by LE. Since the situation is not a threat to the aircraft, a threat to other pax, or a threat to the flight crew, then it’s not a situation that necessitates anything public for LE to have to do such as boarding the aircraft and speaking to the persons in question or otherwise detaining them; but instead it’s a situation that can be handled discreetly, such as nicely pulling the person aside at baggage claim and having a conversation with them. Could be something, and could potentially be nothing.
Unfortunately, even with the most recent training provided by the airline and acting within the airline’s own training policies, could there be one-off situations where the indicators taught in training are met, but there’s some truly reasonable explanation for those indicators showing, completely unrelated to trafficking or any crime? Of course there could be, as was seen here. A rare instance of a behavioral/medical condition that causes certain emotional reactions as it comes to interaction with people, especially strangers, that unfortunately and coincidentally mimic similar reactions that are seen in persons being trafficked. It’s a very tough situation, and both a dicey and delicate one to handle. As Frank mentioned a few posts above, it appears to have gone as good as it could have, all things considered, though the police could’ve probably met them off aircraft, as mentioned before, since there was no immediate threat in progress. But it appears during their initial interview, it was quickly apparent to the police of the family connection and relation, and that this was an unfortunate mistake.
It’s just one of those tough calls. For example, a guy I know is a single dad. Widower, his wife was fatally injured in a vehicle accident after coming home from her hospital shift and was hit by a DUI driver. Left behind, at the time, a 3 yo daughter. This guy, nearly everytime he takes his daughter to a park, inevitably gets the police called by someone seeing him and his daughter at the playground or playing ball or whatever, and someone assumes he’s some child molester who is about to snatch one of the kids at the park. It’s happened often enough that the local police respond and once even seeing him at a distance, cancel the call.
