Portland police tackle human trafficking in plain sight

PORTLAND, Ore. (KPTV) - It’s just after dark and Sergeant Kristi Butcher is sitting in an unmarked Subaru in plain clothes keeping watch of a car that just pulled up to a corner on 82nd Avenue.

The radio laying on her lap, out of site from passersby crackles, “looks like the female in pink shorts is going to be moving up to 82nd and Beech.”

A network of spotters including plain clothed detectives, officers monitoring investigative cameras, and a plane overhead observe as a woman gets in the stranger’s car. Several blocks away, uniformed officers standby in marked police SUV’s waiting for their orders.

“We’re conducting a directed patrol mission, and we’re focusing on visible prostitution and everything that comes with that work,” says Butcher. “We’re focusing on arresting buyers and holding them accountable, as well as identifying and arresting traffickers.”

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In this case the officers suspect the driver is a buyer, formerly known as a John. Butcher calls in marked units which pull the car over and arrest the driver.

The man will be charged with commercial sexual solicitation, a class A misdemeanor. The woman in the car watches from the sidewalk as an officer offers to call in a victim advocate to provide her with services. She declines and is let go.

This is the work of the Portland Police Bureau’s Human Trafficking Unit.

FOX 12 Investigates got exclusive access to the team’s work, joining them in the field for several missions.

Much of their work is concentrated on a very small part of the city, 82nd Avenue. Two-thirds of prostitution charges over the past year have come from the area, according to data from the Portland Police Bureau’s data dashboard.

It’s known as the blade.

“It’s a street term for an avenue where you can see women working, selling sex, being sold for sex,” explains Butcher. “It’s a place in the city where everyone knows that you can go to find women who are out walking, either being compelled to do it or maybe doing it on their own.”

From her experience, when there are women out walking the street, there is almost always a human trafficker, formerly known as a pimp, within eyesight.

Butcher is the head of the Human Trafficking Unit and has seen how the work has changed over her 20 years of law enforcement experience.

“I remember as a young officer being a decoy on the street and arresting buyers. But then I remember arresting women for the crime of prostitution on a regular basis as well. I think we’ve come a long way. I think in our defense, we didn’t know what we know now; that we were just revictimizing them,” says Butcher.

Instead, the women are treated as survivors. Officers work with advocates who try to provide wrap around services and offer a way out of the life.

On a regular basis, Butcher’s team is joined by patrol officers as well as liaisons from the FBI and the district attorney’s office to conduct enforcement missions.

Wearing a hoodie and standing in front of a room full of uniformed officers, Butcher briefs the group on a cold February afternoon as they prepare to head out.

“This dangerous area. Super dangerous game. Lot of money involved. People are willing to commit violence to protect their money and their assets. So, keep an eye on each other,” she tells the cohort.

Right away the team spots a man leaving from a date, the slang word used to describe the time of interaction between a survivor and a buyer.

The marked units sweep in and pull him over. He denied any sexual transaction, explaining that he and the woman had simply talked about cats during the seven minutes they spent in the hotel room together. But the team already had enough evidence for an arrest and citation.

In Portland, there are broad laws that officers and prosecutors can use to go after buyers. That includes everything from circling the block to stopping and talking with women known to be sex workers.

But catching the traffickers is much more difficult.

A call comes in that a suspected human trafficker is in the area and spotters just saw a woman they are familiar with get into his SUV.

As Butcher heads toward the area, she pauses at a neighborhood intersection and waits to hear from the marked units if the vehicle has been pulled over.

“I want to make sure he stops, in case I’m going to have to spike him up here,” she says.

As uniform officers detain the suspect and talk with the woman, Butcher gets on the phone with other detectives to discuss probable cause.

“I think you definitely have enough then because we saw her do a date earlier. We saw him parked, or his car parked in the area,” she says.

The officers are certain that he has been trafficking the woman, but for now, all they can prove is driving without a license or insurance.

“He’s going to be released and cited for the violations his cell phone will be seized,” says Butcher.

That cell phone will be crucial as they work to build a case, which turns out can be incredibly difficult.

“One of the challenges all prosecutors face, but it becomes very apparent in trafficking cases is in order to bring a case, witnesses have to testify,” says Senior Deputy District Attorney JR Ujifusa who leads Multnomah County’s team of prosecutors focused on Human trafficking. “A lot of these cases rely on victims coming forward to tell us what happened, to explain what happened. And if they’re unwilling to do so, trying to make those cases can be really challenging for investigators and prosecutors.”

And the women caught in the middle of a world of crime are rarely ready to trust the police or prosecutors who are trying to get them out.

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