SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento police have just announce they've made multiple arrests following a major operation tackling sex trafficking that took almost a month to complete.
One by one the sting operation netted multiple arrests with the focus being on tackling the demand side of human trafficking. The operation included detectives posing as sex workers online.
In all, 55 arrests were made with guns and drugs also being seized.
“Yeah, we’ve done operations in Folsom," Detective Jason Collins with the Sacramento Police Department said. "In Roseville, in Rockville, in places you would think this would not happen.”
This latest operation was spearheaded by Detective Collins.
"When these guys were taken into custody, I went personally and spoke to each one and tried to educate them on how demand actually contributes to human trafficking,” he said.
ABC10 also talked to the woman who literally wrote the book on battling this growing issue.
“You know nobody is doing a victory lap," said Maggy Krell, author of "Taking Down Backpage: Fighting the world’s largest sex trafficker" and a prosecutor.
"There is still a ton of work that needs to be done, and there are still far too many vulnerable young people who are being exploited right now,” she said.
A sad reality Detective Collins knows all too well.
"This is simply the tip of the iceberg," he said. "We plan on doing these operations more and more. I hope word gets out there. I hope sex buyers think twice about doing this.”
