How Santa Cruz County is failing human trafficking victims, according to new grand jury investigation

Santa Cruz County officials are failing to adequately track and prosecute cases of human trafficking because of incomplete data and poor collaboration among agencies, according to a critical new report from the county’s civil grand jury. That results in no clear picture of the issue’s prevalence in the county.

The investigation, released as the grand jury’s sixth and final report of the year, found no countywide effort to collect data on human trafficking, aside from the family and child services reporting requirements. FBI databases show no local cases over a 10-year period, even though a sheriff’s office bulletin from 2018 confirmed at least 37 children, youth and young adults were confirmed to have experienced commercial sexual exploitation, with 54 more suspected cases.

CIVIL GRAND JURY: Find Lookout news coverage and links to reports here

The report notes a large discrepancy between figures on human trafficking from law enforcement and those provided by nonprofit organizations. The Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office reported just two cases over the past four years, neither of which was successfully prosecuted. The report did not specify whether the charges were dropped or the defendants were found not guilty.

Local law enforcement agencies like Santa Cruz and Watsonville police departments and the county sheriff’s office estimated fewer than 10 cases of human trafficking locally in the past few years, but couldn’t be more specific. On the other hand, local service providers reported drastically higher numbers. One organization said that there are 200 victims in the county on any given week, while another said that it has served 20 victims in the past three years who were minors.

Human trafficking includes acts like recruiting and transporting someone using force, fraud or coercion to exploit them for labor or commercial sex. Any commercial sex act involving someone under 18 is also considered human trafficking, regardless of whether the minor was forced. 

The 19-member watchdog interviewed county and city law enforcement officers, nonprofits focused on servicing victims, human trafficking survivors, school and county administrators, homeless outreach workers and farmworker advocates to better understand the prevalence of human trafficking in the county, the challenges in prosecuting traffickers and the availability of education to youth and other at-risk populations.

The jury’s interviews found that local survivors and those working to combat human trafficking say that victims often don’t recognize that they are being trafficked, due to manipulation and coercion, among other factors. They also identified the types of people most frequently targeted by traffickers — youth in foster care, school-aged children, homeless or runaway youth, young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 who experience poverty, addiction or homelessness, and undocumented agricultural workers.

There is no collaboration among agencies overseeing vulnerable youth to share information, the jury found. A tri-county collaboration among Santa Cruz, San Benito and Monterey counties has weakened over time due to infrequent scheduled meetings and a lack of information sharing.

Santa Cruz County does participate in the statewide Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children Program and receives funding from the California Health & Human Services Agency, which has ranged from $136,000 to $142,000 each year. Monarch Services, a nonprofit that provides emergency shelter to domestic violence, sexual assault and sexual trafficking survivors, has received the majority of that funding since 2021 — a total of $256,750, or about 44% of the $585,700 allocated to the county over the past four years.

The interviews also revealed persistent gaps in awareness and training among county and local officials, including law enforcement, county administrators and school personnel. 

The grand jury noted that interviewees said training classes for law enforcement, school staff, students and the general public that are led by or include survivors were more impactful than those without survivors involved, but added that these are often underutilized. Some local education officials also couldn’t recall receiving training on human trafficking, but still believe that it was covered in online training. 

Law enforcement agencies reported similar issues with a lack of training. A district attorney’s office representative reported that its human trafficking training is likely not in-depth enough to help officers accurately identify victims. While sheriff’s office documents showed that some staff members have attended three separate human trafficking-related training sessions since 2024, it’s unclear how many members participated in the training.

The report also found that businesses rarely comply with state laws requiring certain businesses to post notices in conspicuous places with national and a state human trafficking resource center hotline. The jury surveyed 144 hotels, health clinics, alcohol retailers, hair and nail salons, massage businesses and transit stations and found that only about 7% of them had proper signage about human trafficking. 

The grand jury issued 10 recommendations, which include forming a countywide coalition that includes the district attorney and sheriff’s office and reconvening the tri-county Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children steering committee, which the report says, as of the time of its publication, had not met for a full year. It also recommended requiring law enforcement officers to receive annual human trafficking awareness training that is preferably led by survivors. 

The jury also requested that the county office of education provide survivor-led training to students and staff, and the board of supervisors adopt a countywide ordinance requiring businesses covered by state human trafficking laws to post mandatory signage in order to receive licenses and permits.

The jury specifically mentioned massage businesses, and recommended that the board of supervisors adopt a separate countywide ordinance to regulate their licensing, certification and inspection requirements, to be enforced by  local law enforcement agencies. Human trafficking in illicit massage businesses is one of the most common forms of trafficking in the country, with an estimated 7,500 to 9,000 illicit businesses currently operating in the country, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The board of supervisors, sheriff, county superintendent of schools and the district attorney are all required to respond to the report by Aug. 29. The district attorney’s office, the sheriff’s office and District 5 County Supervisor Monica Martinez, who was previously CEO of Encompass Community Services, did not return Lookout’s request for comment. Encompass’s youth advisory board was one of the organizations that received state funding for services to combat human trafficking in the past four years.

In a statement sent to Lookout, Santa Cruz County Superintendent of Schools Faris Sabbah said he is grateful for the grand jury’s service and attention to the issue. He said the county office of education does provide training and resources about human trafficking through school curriculum and partnerships with local organizations.

“The safety and well-being of our students is our highest priority, and we are committed to continuing to strengthen these systems of support and ensuring that all staff are fully trained to recognize and respond to the warning signs of human trafficking,” Sabbah said. “We are actively assessing the Civil Grand Jury’s specific findings and recommendations and look forward to providing additional information in our formal response.”

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