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Tennessee human trafficking report: More awareness likely causing more tips, experts say

Staff photo by Olivia Ross / Jeff Malone and Holly Clark fill cracks in the sidewalk at Coolidge Park with sand in 2022. The Tennessee Government Management Institution and the Hamilton County Health Department hosted a Red Sand event to raise awareness about human trafficking. The Red Sand Project states the interactive instillation represents "those individuals who fall through the cracks."
Staff photo by Olivia Ross / Jeff Malone and Holly Clark fill cracks in the sidewalk at Coolidge Park with sand in 2022. The Tennessee Government Management Institution and the Hamilton County Health Department hosted a Red Sand event to raise awareness about human trafficking. The Red Sand Project states the interactive instillation represents "those individuals who fall through the cracks." Staff photo by Olivia Ross / Jeff Malone and Holly Clark fill cracks in the sidewalk at Coolidge Park with sand in 2022. The Tennessee Government Management Institution and the Hamilton County Health Department hosted a Red Sand event to raise awareness about human trafficking. The Red Sand Project states the interactive instillation represents "those individuals who fall through the cracks."

By Ellen Gerst 8 min read


Reports of human trafficking in Tennessee have risen steadily in recent years, according to a new report from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

The increase may be partly caused by more awareness of trafficking across the state, a TBI agent said.

The agency projects it will have received around 1,375 tips related to human trafficking by the end of 2023, the report said.

That’s up from 1,291 in 2022, 1,228 in 2021 and 909 in 2020, according to the TBI. The number of trafficking tips has gone up every year since 2016, the earliest year included in the report.