Considerations for Social Workers Who Intend to Collaborate with Law Enforcement: A Qualitative Analysis of Prostitution and Human Trafficking Police Incident Reports

Background and Purpose: Attempts to enhance services for survivors of domestic and sexual violence and sex trafficking brought together law enforcement, social workers, and those who trade sex into the criminal-legal system. We focused our study on the interactions of police with youth and adults who trade sex across a variety of conditions inclusive of choice, coercion, and circumstance. We examined trends in San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) action related to prostitution and human trafficking during two timeframes and had the unique opportunity to analyze law enforcement action related to assessing both “victim” and “criminal” status in relation to human trafficking and prostitution.

Methods: This study utilized data collected as part of a National Institute of Justice funded evaluation of the San Francisco Mayor’s Task Force on Anti-Human Trafficking (Lutnick & Dang, 2018). The data sample we drew from consisted of 989 incident reports across the years 2009, 2010, 2014, and 2015. For our analyses, we focused on a subsample of 515 reports that described people who traded sex on the street, in hotels, or in a residence. We drew on Thematic Analysis and intersectional feminist analysis to guide our thinking about how power was deployed by law enforcement to determine who was selling sex and whether they should be arrested, and if arrested whether they should be booked.

Results: Among many themes present in the data, we focus on two major themes–Gendered and Sexualized Indicators of Prostitution Involvement and The Praxis of Violence Prevention. Within our findings were stories of survival and the many ways people engaged in sex work made rent, provided for their families, and kept themselves safe from violence. Incident summaries also represented engagement with third parties and descriptions of clothing that police associated with sex trade.

Conclusions and Implications: When social workers collaborate with law enforcement and advocate arrest to “help” people trading sex, they dismiss vital issues of concern for social workers named in the NASW policy. For instance, it is near impossible for someone to simultaneously be deceived by law enforcement into believing they are about to make money to pay rent or buy diapers for their infant, and then instead be handcuffed, arrested, or detained and to be ensured that, “the right of people in sex trade be treated with dignity and respect.” Our findings demonstrate how “arrest as help” leads to criminalizing youth and adults as they try to meet their own needs and prevent both interpersonal and systemic violence. Such a finding is particularly concerning given the growing disparities of Black youth being incarcerated, especially those also involved in the child welfare system, and the evidence that shows the likelihood of their experiencing criminalization over a lifetime.

We recommend that social workers move beyond “trauma informed” and ground their approaches to sex trade in Healing Centered Engagement (HCE). Such an approach provides a pathway for culturally humble and responsive social work in the way that healing from and with the impact of systemic violence is diverse across communities.