How to get help
Human trafficking hotlines:Tennessee: 855-55-TNHTH (86484)National: 888-373-7888Text: BeFree (233733)Sources: Polaris, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation
During 2015, 376 people in Tennessee called state and national human trafficking hotlines to report suspected trafficking, ask for help or learn more about the issue, according to newly released data.
Most of those calls - 262 - were to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center's hotline, according to Polaris, the nonprofit organization that runs the nationwide line. Those 262 calls resulted in 69 credible reports of human trafficking.
Another 114 calls were received by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's statewide hotline during the year, according to the agency. On Thursday, TBI did not break that number down further, but earlier this month, Special Agent in Charge Margie Quin said TBI was investigating 12 cases of minor sex trafficking and 40 cases of adult sex trafficking.
Both phone numbers are answered 24/7 and are designed to combat human trafficking by giving witnesses a place to report suspected trafficking and by giving victims a place to get help and find a way out. The national hotline also provides citizens, advocates and law enforcement agencies with resources about trafficking.
Both the national and state hotlines are a critical part of the system to fight human trafficking, said Ondrea Johnson, director of development at End Slavery Tennessee, a nonprofit organization based in Nashville.
"A couple weeks ago, a victim called us from a hotel room," she said. "She had been dropped off by someone who brought her here from Chicago. She didn't know who to call, but somehow she found our number. I got her phone number and called the hotline number myself, and she was able to get help."
Jerry Redman, CEO of Second Life Chattanooga, a nonprofit organization focused on educating the public about trafficking, said he suspects the calls to the hotlines only scratch the surface of the number of people being trafficked in Tennessee.
"One of the things we don't know with this crime is just how widespread the scale is," he said.
Federal law defines human trafficking as any time a person is commercially exploited by force, fraud or coercion, Redman said.
"And that could be for sex or for labor," he said.
If a minor commits a commercial sex act, it's automatically considered human trafficking.
The 69 reports of human trafficking in Tennessee that the National Human Trafficking Resource Center received in 2015 were mostly cases of sex trafficking, according to Polaris. The nonprofit received 53 reports of sex trafficking cases and 12 reports of labor trafficking in the state.
In all, that's down a smidgen from 2014, when the agency received 73 credible reports of human trafficking from Tennessee.
Contact staff writer Shelly Bradbury at 423-757-6525 or sbradbury@timesfreepress.com with tips or story ideas. Follow @ShellyBradbury.