(WBIR - KNOXVILLE) Law enforcement officials on all levels - from local to international - are working together to crack down on human trafficking, which is a growing problem.
Victim advocates and law enforcement officials call it "modern day slavery," and it's happening right here in East Tennessee.
'Human trafficking' is any situation in which one person forces another person to work, either through physical force, coercion or fraud.
The forced labor can range from work on farms, in factories and in hotels and restaurants, to - most commonly - prostitution.
In sex trafficking, specifically, traffickers - or pimps - target young girls, according to FBI Knoxville Division special agent Cynthia Deitle
.
"Traffickers know where to find the victims, and they know a lot of young kids are on these social media sites," Deitle told WBIR in an exclusive interview.
She said Interstate 40 is a convenient corridor for sex traffickers.
"I don't know that I've ever met a trafficker that was remorseful or truly understood what it was that he was doing to women," she said.
Traffickers look specifically for girls who are vulnerable.
"It could be that they're looking for something in their lives and they find it in a nefarious setting, unfortunately," Deitle said.
Kate Trudell is executive director of the Community Coalition Against Human Trafficking, a Knoxville-based non-profit organization, and said all kinds of girls are at risk.
"It doesn't just happen in the low-income parts of town. It doesn't just happen to those kids on the other side of the tracks," she said.
The coalition's mission includes training people to recognize victimization.
"It happens in stages. It happens a lot more subtly," she said. "These victims, perhaps they have an older boyfriend or perhaps they are struggling with a difficult home life and they're trying to find something better."
"What we are looking for is a victim that is forced to engage in prostitution," Deitle said, "that is doing it against her will, that is coerced into doing it, fearful of the trafficker hurting her family."
Finding and helping victims is a complicated process, as traffickers and pimps employ manipulation.
"To keep a girl in this horrific environment, a lot of times he will introduce alcohol, narcotics, some type of pills, possibly heroin into her life to keep her more submissive and subdued," Deitle said.
"They're not only victims of sexual assault, sexual abuse, but also domestic violence and manipulation, control," Trudell said. "Many have severe PTSD. They can often exhibit depression and anxiety and have chronic health problems."
Last month, in an annual effort called Operation Cross Country, law enforcement officials nationwide rescued 149 children from trafficking and arrested 153 pimps. Two of those pimps were in East Tennessee.
According to a TBI report released in 2013, law enforcement in 21 of Tennessee's 95 counties reported at least 16 cases of sex trafficking involving a minor in 2010.
The report shows Knox County law enforcement reported more than 100 such cases.
Once victims are removed from trafficking, Trudell said, "we make sure they have no immediate health crisis that they need attention for, and then we try to pair them with a long-term treatment facility, most of which are out-of-state."
"How do we make them whole?" Deitle said. "How do we put them on a much different course in their life without traffickers, without drugs, without feeling like they've been victimized?"
Deitle and Trudell say if you see something suspicious, report it to law enforcement. You could be saving a victim from human trafficking.
The coalition hosts free monthly volunteer training sessions. The next one is Dec. 9.
The University of Tennessee is holding a human trafficking awareness event next week, on Nov. 17, called the inaugural Human Trafficking on Rocky Top event. It starts at 7 p.m. in the Toyota Auditorium at the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy, 1640 Cumberland Ave. It's free and open to the public.
Polaris is a leading organization in the fight against modern slavery. More on the project is available HERE.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation offers tips and resources on combating human trafficking HERE.
Visit the CCAHT website HERE.
The US State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report 2015 is HERE.
