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The Public Safety Committee meeting will come to order.

It's 9.36 a.m.

January 27, 2026. I'm Robert Kettle, chair of the Public Safety Committee.

Will the committee clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember Lin.

Here.

Council Member Juarez.

Here.

Council Member Rivera.

Present.

Council Member Saka.

Here.

Chair Kettle.

Here.

Chair, there are five members present.

Thank you.

If there's no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

Hearing and seeing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

Good morning.

Today for chair comment, I wanted to speak to three things.

First, obviously, is Minnesota, Minneapolis.

A second tragic killing in three weeks by federal law enforcement in Minneapolis and their indiscriminate, heavy-handed operations against citizens and non-citizens alike demand the need for the Department of Homeland Security, DHS, to cease operations in our city and cities across the country.

These DHS federal law enforcement operations are ill-disciplined, not in keeping with established Department of Justice policy or guidance, and are marked by poor leadership, which makes public safety in our cities worse we need to stand out at once.

The events post 9-11, the global war on terror, the creation of DHS, change our law enforcement approach to immigration from a guardian ethos to a warrior ethos at all levels of government.

Local governments, such as Seattle, are working to return to a guardian approach.

We need to do the same with federal law enforcement, particularly with the Department of Homeland Security.

I asked county, state, and federal delegations to join the city of Seattle in calling for, in effect, a consent decree for federal immigration law enforcement to reform their working methods so that they can work their mandated mission sets, immigration, but also terrorist networks, drug trafficking, for example, not killing protesters.

What the region needs is not ICE, but rather the FBI, the Federal Bureau of Information, ATF, Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and DEA, Drug Enforcement Agency, to stop the flow of guns and drugs into our city.

That is where law enforcement can help improve our safety, our public safety.

Along these lines, in terms of what we're doing, I want to thank the executive.

We have a new directive from the Seattle Police Department effective the 15th of January that starts In the event of a decision by the federal government to unanimously deploy the National Guard or other federal agents into the city of Seattle, SBD will not abdicate its responsibilities and continue to serve and protect Seattle's communities under the command of the chief of police.

That's how it starts.

And the key thing for this guidance, and this is a key thing for Seattle, that is to, one, engage.

We need our officers to respond to the 911 call like we recently had, you know, an armed kidnapping on Aurora.

We need to confirm, to confirm the identity of the law enforcement, in this case ICE and probable cause and very importantly document.

We need to document these encounters.

We need to document what is happening with federal law enforcement in our city.

So engage, confirm and document.

It is so key for us to have this directive and to have this approach.

and I thank the directive that was promulgated on the 15th of January.

One last thing I wanted to note as it relates to federal law enforcement, because this comes to me on a regular basis, and that is technology.

We have a technology program in our city.

You know, first with the automatic license plate reader, the CCTV, and the Real Time Crime Center.

These programs were butt in place with legislation passed by the City Council that incorporated City of Seattle values.

We put these pieces in place to include by amendments authored by my colleagues to include Councilmember Rivera, Vice Chair Saka.

We put these pieces in place and they have been serving our public safety.

they have been serving our public safety.

And I recognize the calls, but we built in so many pieces to protect against that.

For example, we have one sworn officer who has access to ALPR and CCTV.

That is the real reason why sometimes ICE gets information.

It's basically an insider threat issue, and we've seen this in other jurisdictions.

Well, we built a different system.

we have a system where there's only one sworn officer at the real-time crime center.

I raise this because there's been different reporting and there's an effort right now in Olympia that's really focused on FLOC.

And if you read the reporting and everything, you would think that Seattle had the FLOC system.

We do not have FLOC.

We do not have FLOC.

We do not have the systems that these other jurisdictions had and the issues that these other jurisdictions in the county and the state have had.

And I think that's an important to highlight.

And by the way, we have a responsibility in city government and council in this committee to think big picture across the entire spectrum of public safety.

And there's just little things that one should note.

like for with ALPR, for example.

Since May of last year, it's been used 18 times for missing person calls, you know, for those amber-silver alert calls that we receive and you see when you're driving on the highway.

So important.

And then on top of that, 14 suicidal subject calls.

So I understand, you know, their concerns, but we've thought about this before we passed these laws.

We built in protections.

We built in processes.

and both systems and the Real-Time Crime Center are serving our city well and we will continue to oversight and continue to work that.

I just wanted to make these points as it relates to federal law enforcement.

First, my statement.

Two, the new directive promulgated on 15 January and the big piece of engage, confirm, and document.

And I also wanted to touch on the technology piece because it is a subject and there's a lot of misinformation out there and I just wanted to ensure that these pieces are out publicly.

Okay, with that chair comment, we will now open the hybrid public comment period.

Public comment should relate to the items on today's agenda or within the purview of the committee.

Clerk, how many speakers are signed up for today?

Currently we have two in person and one remote speaker.

Okay, each speaker will have two minutes and we'll start with in person.

Thank you.

The public comment period will be moderated in the following manner.

The public comment period is up to 60 minutes.

Speakers will be called in the order in which they registered.

Speakers will hear a chime when 10 seconds are left of their time.

Speakers' mics will be muted if they do not end their comments within the allotted time to allow us to call on the next speaker.

The public comment period is now open and we'll begin with the first speaker on the list.

The first in-person speaker is Emi Koyama and to be followed by Howard Gale.

Can you assist her?

Can you pull the mic down?

Am I ready?

or is it easier to pull the big one down?

Okay, great.

Are you good?

Good.

Okay.

Good morning, Chair Kettle and the community.

My name is Amy Koyama, and I'm the Director of College of Rights and Safety for People in the Sixth Trade.

I'm a co-founder and co-director of Eileen's, a peer-led community space, street outreach, and leadership development program by and for women working along a Pacific Highway in Saskatoon County.

We reach about 100 mostly homeless, majority black and indigenous women, I'm justifying to provide an alternative perspective in anticipation of KCPAL's presentation on sex trafficking.

Prosecutors operate within an adversarial criminal justice system, which focuses on winning convictions and cutting plea deals, rather than truth-seeking, genuine remorse and contrition, and restoration of survivor and community wholeness.

They also bring this adversarial approach to policy making, which does disservice to our city and residents.

In the slides KCPO has prepared for the committee, you'll see prosecutors throw any and all arguments to see what sticks, regardless of the representativeness or soundness of their sources.

They use a mix of images, including stock photos, screen capture from a fictional drama film image provided by surveillance data analytics vendor that provides a faulty special app for ICE agents to geolocate and recognize faces of citizen immigrants photos stolen from online advertisement of someone who still works as an escort and series of photos of brutalized, bloodied women that show their faces in complete disregard for their safety, privacy, or dignity.

They instrumentalize black indigenous women's particular vulnerability to abuse and exploitation without offering any remedies addressed in socioeconomic conditions that produce those vulnerabilities in the first place.

They selectively quote and weaponize survivor testimonies that are useful in ceding further power to the law enforcement while neglecting how the law enforcement itself is also a source of violence in the lives of many women.

They silence voice of survivors who do not agree with the prosecutor's idea of how we protect and empower most vulnerable among us.

policymaking should not be adversarial and efforts should be made to gather those who are impacted by any given issue, whether they align with the law enforcement or not, and amplify the voices most vulnerable without preconceived agenda.

Prosecutors have a role to play in this conversation, but their dominance is unwarranted and disrespect survivors.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up, we have Howard Gale.

Morning, Howard Gale.

So, yesterday in a press conference, State Attorney General Nick Brown said, quote, State and local law enforcement do not have to simply watch or look away if the law is being violated.

If they see somebody being assaulted unlawfully or attacked unlawfully or otherwise having their legal rights violated, we do expect state and local officers not to simply watch or do nothing.

The Washington public expects their local sheriff, local police chief or officers that work for either to not simply watch if somebody in their community is having their rights violated Chair Kettle, five months ago, speaking for the 36th District Democrats, I presented a proposal that fulfills exactly that, and yet we have not heard any discussion or any proposed legislation.

This is a proposal that is not a question of trying to control federal law enforcement, but it's about everybody, local and federal, being subject to the Fourth Amendment.

The point of this legislation and why it's so important is we've seen some horrifying examples in the last five months, in West Seattle on September 12th and in South Seattle on December 29th, where Seattle police officers actively disregarded concerns about ICE.

And what happened on the December 29th was a right-wing provocateur going into the Somali community to childcare centers, stirring up hate, and when confronted by SBD because he actually displayed a firearm, they simply blew it off.

This is exactly why we need much more affirmative sorts of legislation, and not simply saying police should stand back.

Lastly, I do want to point out today is Holocaust Remembrance Day, and as a Jew who lost a lot of family in the Holocaust, what we're seeing right now is not a Holocaust, but it is exactly the precursors to a Holocaust.

It's the dehumanizing and the willingness to murder people without consequences.

And so again, it's all the more important that we take direct action to have our police force actually intervene and act in a way which is not simply standing back.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The first remote speaker is David Haynes.

and we have a second remote speaker, Alberto Alvarez.

We'll go David Haynes first.

Please press star six when you hear the prompt, you have been unmuted.

One second.

Hi, thank you, David Haynes.

Stop the sexploitation station 1492 for whatever year in your universal historical perspective began predatorizing the local community with impunity.

When is the King County prosecutor gonna sue to take over all those evil slow motels used to rape and pillage and traffic women with all those property owners who devalued the values of human life?

And when is the council gonna redevelop the entire Aurora Corridor with emergency housing to replace the disgrace of society imploding before everybody's eyes on that entire slum motel avenue?

And when is City Hall gonna realize that they need billions of dollars from the tariffs in the federal government to be able to redevelop that whole area.

You know, ever since the police department decided to set up an entrapment operation to go on display in front of the real human traffickers over in the Aurora Avenue corridor, all these evil pimps and traffickers are just becoming more sophisticated and many of them are using the link-like rail from Linwood to downtown.

And it sounds like weird but even though the women are with them they sort of act like they're not with each other even though they are and it's like they're afraid to speak out and won't fight back and yet the places that they get taken to are some of the most evil places in the world and they're right here in Seattle usually in the youth district it's like they got these rape houses where some guy will find some desperate woman and they'll call up like 20 wicked evil Johns and they show up at a house and they all pay whatever they pay and they get and they drug the woman, and they do all kinds of horrible things.

And I want to know how much the cops made at the Seahawks game, because there's more important things to do.

Thank you, David.

Next up, we have Alberto Alvarez.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Councilmember Kettle.

There is a problem beyond the flock system.

When federal law enforcement subpoenas license plate data and videos of people protesting by the laws that are currently established, you have to comply when they subpoena for that information.

To Maritza Rivera, what have you been doing for over a year?

You've had countless meetings with Hamdi Mohammed.

You've mentioned at councils many, many times.

So how do you have no plan of action?

Have you slow walked or ignored action or recommendations by the Office of BioIRA?

That is my question.

What have you been doing for over a year?

Have a good day.

Is that complete?

Thank you.

I just wanted to know really quickly, I appreciate all the public comments.

Briefers can speak to the public comment points if you can.

But I also wanted to note particularly with Mr. Gale and Mr. Alvarez.

We have been engaging.

I've had multiple meetings.

Yesterday, for example, I had meetings with city attorney Evans and her team and also Mayor Wilson and members of her team as well working through these pieces.

There's a lot of aspects to this and I realize a lot of people have legal opinions, but my approach is determined by the legal opinion offered first by City Attorney Evans and then also our in-house legal counsel here in the Legislative Department.

And so we're working through the options and with that legal backdrop that we needed and again, I met with Mayor Wilson yesterday in terms of engaging with the executive in terms of next steps and so forth.

I do also want to say I 110% agree with you regarding the parallels to what led to the Holocaust.

I've seen parallels myself during the course of my naval career and I see it again and again in history and what's happening in terms of the authoritarianism that's enveloped our federal government.

It has the same marching points and it's very concerning and that's why we have to stand up.

That's why we have to do the pieces that we talked to.

and finally to Mr. Alvarez, there's been no subpoenas to this point.

We do have the ability like with CCTV to pause, but there's been nothing I've asked and nothing's come to my attention.

I just wanted to make that point known.

Okay, public comment has expired.

We will now proceed to our items of business.

Members of the public are encouraged to submit written public comment on the signup cards available on the podium or email the council at council at seattle.gov.

We'll now move on to our first item of business.

Will the clerk please read item one into the record?

King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, a presentation on human trafficking.

Thank you.

Ms. McGinnis, Ms. Voorhees, please join us at the table and introduce yourself.

And as we do this, Council Member Juarez, if you'd like to make any introductory comments, you're welcome to.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

First of all, I want to thank, and I'll just say it, their names, Brayla and Alexandra for sitting with us for over two hours, and the opportunity to meet with you guys again, and the City Attorney on the sex trafficking.

And I know it'll come up in your presentation, I'm sure the Chair will flag this as well, and I'll let you do your presentation.

mainly for here and also hopefully in Olympia.

We did get a copy and looked at the House Bill 2526 that Representative Stearns is promoting and Senate Bill 5936, Senator Orwell on the sex trafficking.

So at some point, you can sprinkle in your presentation because we're looking at these issues as well.

particularly in Aurora, the North End, and as you shared with us, all along the 99 corridor and the hotels and other ways to get to sex traffickers of children, not adult women who engage in the practice of with consensual for their business model, which is another issue.

Our focus is on young women, particularly women of color, who are being trafficked from Vancouver, BC, all the way to Portland, to San Francisco.

It's more than systemic.

And if I have to hear one more time that this is the world's oldest profession and it's okay, it's not.

So I really want to thank you guys for taking the time they took and meeting with councilmember Kettle's office as well and our staff and we are working closely with the Senate and of course representative Stearns So I'm hoping that we can something good will come out of this that we don't just do another committee and you know That we actually have something that we can go after people that traffic women to coerce women and young girls and groom them for sex trafficking in our great state and beyond.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Council Member Juarez.

And over to you.

Now, this is a long brief.

Sometimes I say hold your questions, colleagues, until the end.

Since the length of this brief, it may be better to find different opportunities to have questions.

Is that okay?

Okay.

Colleagues, as I usually, you know, some of these briefings, it's better to wait to the end.

This one, because of the length and so forth, you know, if there's opportunities, please, you can ask questions during the course of the briefing.

Okay, over to you.

Thank you.

Can you introduce yourself for the record, too?

Certainly.

Good morning.

My name is Alex Voorhees.

I'm a senior deputy prosecutor with the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office.

And good morning everyone.

My name is Brayla McGinnis and I too am a senior deputy prosecutor with King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office.

Just for a quick layout of the land.

I handle the south end of the county and Ms. Voorhees handles the north end and so it is her and I who split the county and handle the cases across the county.

Thank you.

Okay.

Over to you.

Ms. Chair Kettle, thank you so much for having us this morning.

Members of the committee, we appreciate your time to talk about this important issue.

As Ms. McGinnis alluded to, the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office has two prosecutors that are dedicated to work in human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of both juveniles and adults in our community.

This is a problem that impacts broad swaths of our community.

It impacts the people that are being trafficked.

It impacts the people who are trying to leave the survivors, who are trying to leave the abusive and coercive situations that they're in.

It impacts public safety as we see every day on Aurora with rolling gun battles, kidnappings, people in the news, you know, being run down or attempted to be run down.

This puts members of the community across broad spectrum in danger.

And so I really appreciate your time and your attention.

A lot or some of what we're going to show you in this presentation is uncomfortable.

It involves graphic images.

It involves deplorable statements made by men who purchase sex from some of the most vulnerable in our community.

This presentation was meant to be uncomfortable.

We've worked with a number of survivors with respect to the legislation that we are working on, survivor organizations.

We've had survivors that have testified before the legislature on behalf of the bill that we'll talk about at the end of the presentation.

And one of them has said both to us and in public that while this subject matter is uncomfortable, it's uncomfortable for all of us in this room, it was even more uncomfortable for her to live through the abuse, the violence, and the exploitation that was perpetrated against her by pimps and buyers.

So I apologize if this makes anybody uncomfortable.

Unfortunately, it is the nature of the topic that we are going to discuss today.

Exploitation is embedded in gaining power and control over another person.

It stems from slavery and colonization.

it does not require that someone physically forces, abuses or restrains someone else when it is not in a position to give consent and it does not matter whether or not you are receiving payment when there's a major power imbalance.

As prosecutors, we deal in the law.

There are several statutes on the books in Washington State with respect to human trafficking, but I wanted to start with just a general definition.

This comes from both the federal and the state statutes on human trafficking.

Human trafficking is defined as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of individuals through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation.

This exploitation can include forced labor, sexual slavery, or other forms of commercial sexual exploitation.

Coercion can be subtle or overt, physical or psychological.

And I'll tell you from working these cases, it is often all of the above.

In order to prove the crime of human trafficking with respect to an adult, the state must prove forced fraud or coercion.

With respect to exploitation of a minor, that is a per se violation of the human trafficking statutes.

And again, I want to remind everybody that this system of exploitation is considered a form of modern-day slavery.

It affects people of all ages and all backgrounds.

Under the umbrella of human trafficking, that's sort of a phrase that has become a colloquialism for a wide range of crimes, but they all deal with the exploitation of some of the most vulnerable in our community.

I've already talked about human trafficking.

Promoting commercial sexual abuse of a minor is a similar statute under Washington law that makes it a crime for an individual to exploit a minor for commercial sexual purposes.

A commercial sexual abuse of a minor deals with those who purchase minors, purchase juveniles for sex.

Promoting prostitution in the first and second degrees are sort of precursor statutes to the steps that the legislature has taken to increase penalties for those who traffic in adults and children and those who buy children.

Also, we have the crime of prostitution and the crime of patronizing a prostitute.

The crime of patronizing a prostitute is a simple misdemeanor under Washington law as it currently stands.

That means if someone were to purchase a minor under the commercial sexual abuse of a minor statute when she is 17 and 364 days old, he would be subject to a class B felony and very substantial incarceration and other consequences.

The day that young woman or boy or member of our LGBTQ plus community turns 18, it is a simple misdemeanor.

It is less of a crime to purchase sex from that individual, which that individual is likely not going to keep for her benefit, than to steal a candy bar from the AMPM.

That's what our state laws currently say about buyers.

We claim to be a state that is opposed to racism, misogyny, sexism.

But our current structures in place reinforce those by not holding buyers accountable for the role that they play in this ecosystem.

This is happening all across the country and all across Washington State.

Ms. McGinnis will go into more detail later, but this isn't just Aurora.

Aurora is the tip of the iceberg.

It's what people can see and have a visceral reaction to.

But what people often don't understand or don't know because they can't see it with their own eyes is that this is a circuit of trafficking of vulnerable people up and down the West Coast to Arizona to Vegas and back.

It happens in Vancouver and Spokane and the Tri-Cities.

and Bellevue and Kirkland and Federal Way.

It happens all across our communities.

Washington is known as a center for sexual exploitation.

Some studies suggest that we have the second busiest track in the country, and when I say track, that is an open area for individuals engaging in sex work.

Here, that is Aurora Avenue.

The busiest is Figueroa in LA.

We file as many cases as we can, and we use the laws to enforce and crimes committed by traffickers.

Ms. McGinnis and I also handle cases that involve assaults, rapes, and robberies of individuals who are engaging in commercial sex.

This is regardless of whether or not those individuals are working for a pimp or trafficker or whether they are working independently.

What I can tell you is the vast majority of those cases that we file, those involve cases of people who claim to be working independently They're the ones that can actually call 911. When a person who is under the control of a pimp or trafficker is raped or robbed or assaulted, they are under strict instructions to not notify law enforcement.

So we do work with survivors.

We work with individuals who engage in this work out of need, out of desperation, out of situations where they believe that this is the best way for them to support themselves.

Our office has made a commitment to those individuals.

We've made a commitment to working with survivors across the board.

Can I ask a quick question there?

You know, we think of Aurora, we think of District 5, we think of it as a Seattle piece.

I really appreciate you being here because it is a county city, but it's also a county city and state.

You know, it should almost be, you know, Washington State Police.

And we've talked about this in committee with previously with the state of areas of prostitution.

about the King County Sheriff, Metro Security, City Police Department, but the state as well.

When we're the second out of the country, that should grab the attention of the governor, the Attorney General, and to have that kind of assistant.

So can you speak to your interactions with state level entities and how that plays into how we allow such a long, the second longest in the country?

Certainly.

So we are fortunate in King County and to some respects statewide to have an amazing team of detectives spanning multiple jurisdictions.

The King County Sheriff's Office has designated detectives.

The Seattle Police Department has designated detectives.

Bellevue, the City of SeaTac and Shoreline all have detectives who specialize in this work and we also work as part of our job with the Office of Crime Victims to put on trainings across the state for law enforcement and prosecutors to learn how to investigate these crimes, to look for the signs, what to do when you see When you're a patrol officer and you show up at a motel because there's been a 911 call for a disturbance and you're seeing things, you know, a girl that's not allowed to speak, what are the signs to look for and what are the next steps to take?

We do these trainings statewide two to three times a year and we invite all law enforcement and prosecutors from across the state to come and work on those.

The State Patrol also has a group that works on investigations involving human trafficking.

I've worked with the State Patrol on cases involving the kidnapping of a toddler by a trafficker.

The toddler was the child of one of his girls that was working for him.

The State Patrol does fairly robust work with respect to net nanny and online sex buying of minors and we work with them to engage in those and to prosecute those cases if they occur in King County.

We also partner with our federal partners Homeland Security and the FBI have work groups that specialize in human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation as well.

So this is it's not something we do on our own, it's something we're privileged to have a team of people to work with, but no team could be big enough for me, but there's always more that can be done.

Next slide.

And these are just some examples of you know, recent or relatively recent cases in the news from Aurora and other areas.

When we conduct undercover operations or law enforcement conducts undercover operations, we frequently arrest individuals that you would not expect to be purchasing sex.

These include teachers, doctors, lawyers.

We'll get into this a little bit further down.

We've also had, you know, 911 dispatch coordinators soliciting sex from minors online.

As I referred to earlier, Washington has been at the forefront of combating human trafficking.

We were the first state in the nation to enact a human trafficking law that was modeled on the federal model.

We have safe harbor laws since 2020 that allow for individuals who are arrested for the crime of prostitution to assert a defense that they were forced or coerced.

What I can tell the council about the enforcement of the crime of prostitution in King County is that we have not prosecuted a case in King County of the crime of prostitution, simple prostitution, since 2014. Our emphasis has really been on the traffickers and to some extent the buyers of children.

There are vacator laws on the books that allow individuals who have been convicted of some offenses related to their work in prostitution or being trafficked to vacate convictions.

There's an affirmative defense to the crime of prostitution.

and at the King County Prosecutor's Office, one of the programs that we have launched is Survivors First.

It started with domestic violence victims, and we now also include that for survivors of sex trafficking, where individuals who are facing criminal charges, our prosecutors look at the cases.

We work with, in many instances, defense counsel.

We actually talk with defense counsel, we have conversations about the most meaningful ways that we can impact that person going forward.

And often, or in many cases, it is a referral to culturally responsive, culturally appropriate, trauma-informed services within our community through organizations like the YMCA.

So when we talk about sex trafficking, and just to be clear, Ms. Voorhees and I specifically handle sex trafficking.

So under the umbrella of human trafficking, there's also a lot of labor trafficking that happens in our state, and I really want to acknowledge that, and I don't want that to go unspoken.

We do not handle those kinds of cases.

We are specific to sex trafficking, so I just wanted to sort of lay that, the lay of the land for that when we're speaking about this.

So, first and foremost, I want it to be made very clear that anyone can be trafficked.

Anyone is vulnerable to being sex trafficked.

We have worked with our detectives on cases where women who have PhD degrees or are doctors and end up in certain life circumstances end up being trafficked.

So it's very important that that is known, and I think that's very important because especially when we're talking with community members or teachers or people, you know, It's not quite said, but I think a lot of people think that could never happen to me, that could never happen to my daughter, that could never happen to my son.

And we all want to believe that we are great parents and great community members, and I don't want to take that away from anyone, but I do want to emphasize, which I will get to later in the presentation, that the traffickers and the buyers will look at vulnerabilities that you yourself may not even be aware of.

And so I just wanted to put that out there.

But what we know from the survivors that we worked with, the cases that come across our desk, local and national research and data, organizations that we work with, policy and legislative folks, is that the number one vulnerable populations who are most at risk of this happening is BIPOC women, youth, and individuals in the LGBTQ plus community.

Now, part of that stems from society, right?

Homelessness, foster care system, things like that.

And what happens is a lot of these individuals, which is shown through research, and I believe Dr. Boyer's, one of her studies and reports, which is on our King County CSEC Task Force, is that a lot of these individuals actually have a history of childhood sexual abuse and trauma.

and what we see is that these vulnerabilities are then used as holes or gateways that pimps and traffickers will use to exploit and gain control over these individuals.

Specifically here in Washington, black women and Native American women are at astronomically high risk.

And if you speak with the YWCA, the Silent Task Force, the Seattle Indian Health Board, they will tell you about some really awful experiences and the impacts of these individuals who are already oppressed by society in many other ways, now being further pushed underground.

And lots of them feel like no one cares, right?

And so, you know, We are here to say we care and that this should not be happening to you and these women deserve so much better.

The survivors that Alex and I work with and the stories we have heard from them and those who have made it out of the life and been able to grow up to be more than what they were just told, these women are incredible.

and so there are great success stories and there are stories that we can never bring to you today because they're lost and we won't be able to hear from them because of them being trafficked.

I sort of highlighted this previously, but these are just some statistics that we rely on.

Rights for Girls is a great organization.

Yasmin Vafa runs that organization, and they do legislative and national reports data.

And so of more than 10,000 cases reported to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, nearly 40% were black women and girls, which was the highest of any racial group.

According to the National Criminal Justice Training Center, 40% of sex trafficking victims in the United States identified as Native American despite being only 3% of the population.

And in Seattle, 94% of Native American women were forced or coerced into sex in their lifetimes.

So specifically with black women and black girls, the term adultification, for those of you who are not familiar with it, it's a form of intersectional bias against black girls that perceive them as older and less innocent than their white peers.

This is specific to sex trafficking and dates back to historical oppressive narratives and realities of black and brown women who were specifically enslaved.

Stereotypes attributed to black women are projected onto black girls, leading to their hyper-sexualization and the perception that black girls exercise more agency when engaging in the commercial sex trade, even when they are too young to consent.

On average, only 30% of black youth are characterized as victims compared to 66% of their white counterparts.

So now we're looking at the RISE report.

This is actually a really great report.

I encourage all of you to read it.

We're happy to send you a copy.

This was actually done here based on interactions with individuals involved in the commercial sex trade here in Washington.

And it was done by a survivor herself.

And so from this report, they gathered some of the following information that from the National Human Trafficking Hotline who reported their age of entry into exploitation, 89% reported that they were children when first exploited.

This is very important because our average age, which varies, but is approximately 11 to 14 when individuals are first introduced or exploited into the sex trade.

And so this is really important because what we see is that a lot of these individuals who were exploited as children become then entrenched in their trauma and the exploitation, and it makes it very difficult for them to escape and get out.

Of that report, nearly all participants exploited by a third party reported multiple concurrent vulnerabilities.

So some of those vulnerabilities I was listing on that previous slide, ranging from the need for shelter, food, and clothing, to gaining access to controlled substances or previously unattainable items and fulfilling emotional needs such as love, family, and belonging.

This next point is very important and very interesting, and I don't think it's talked about enough.

A lot of times when we talk about the vulnerabilities, it's very common that we talk about those who are in and out of the foster care system.

and come from low income or no shelter situations.

But the RISE report found that most survivors actually spoke at length about the normalization of sex work in their childhood homes and in their surrounding communities.

These survivors primarily talked about their mothers and other female role models' involvement in the commercial sex industry and to a lesser extent, their fathers and male role models as pimps.

We see this actually playing out in cases.

We have unfortunately worked with or prosecuted pimps who are fathers and then groom their sons into being pimps and normalize that, right?

And then it has passed down a generation.

and we also see this.

There have been some YouTube documentaries or filming of Aurora Avenue speaking with pimps and they will ask them, what would you say if your daughter told you that they wanted to do that?

And these pimps will say, I would teach her the life of the game.

I would teach her how to respect a pimp, how to do all of that.

It's quite awful.

So I just really want to emphasize the point about the normalization and the generational trauma that can stem from that So this was a statement from a study participant in the rise report and it they said almost all of the children that I've served have been recruited or solicited online almost exclusively like I can think of in the last year every single one has been an online solicitation and This is a form of technology booming, right?

As time has gone on and as technology continues to advance, you know, online solicitation and exploitation is just extremely prevalent.

As everyone in their day-to-day work has a phone, a computer, and uses that to communicate with family and friends, that is the exact same way that pimps and buyers are gaining access to exploited children and individuals.

We see that children are exploited on video games.

There are conversations that we are trying to have in the community about parents' awareness with their children because the ability to chat with someone on a video game can turn into grooming and exploitation.

And as a parent, you may not even think it can go there.

Instagram is a very prevalent platform that is being used to exploit individuals.

So as time is going on, as we are just becoming more tech-dependent, so is the life and the game and the commercial sex subculture.

So every year, about every two years, our office conducts, we review the cases that we have filed.

So just to be clear, it's only filed cases.

And we work with the CSEC King County Task Force and we release the data.

The data is public.

It is on the King County CSEC Task Force website.

And so this is just a snapshot of the disproportionality of the black individuals who are exploited in relation to the percentage of the population that they represent.

I will note, and this is something that my colleague and I have talked about, is what we know through some of the data that I've put forward before you in conversations with survivors is actually with our office, we do not have a lot of Native American survivor cases on our end, but we do know that it's happening to them and we do know that they are working with some of the direct service providers.

But I do think that it is a conversation that needs to be had way more in depth about reaching those communities and speaking to those individuals and reaching out for support so that their voices are too heard in this.

As Ms. Voorhees indicated, tip of the iceberg is Aurora Avenue.

That is what is visual.

But we show this slide to really emphasize that this is happening all over.

And these are actually some places that we have had cases out of.

Strip clubs, Aurora Avenue, job offers, familial trafficking, shelters, foster care, schools, shopping malls, victim service facilities can be recruiting grounds, the track or the circuit, which is known also as Aurora Avenue, prostitution-related websites such as Skip the Games or Mega Personals, transportation hubs, social media, or anywhere.

We have a survivor that was recruited by her pimp at a grocery store.

So the recruiting process, it should be really well known that when pimps are identifying who their target victim is, these women are not seen as women.

These women are seen as products.

And we will see that, and you will see that throughout this presentation.

throughout the cases that Alex and I work.

These women are seen as products, and the question that a pimp needs to answer is, how quickly can I get money?

How can I make this product better?

It is an economic business model, and the women is the product.

There is supply, there is demand, and the buyers drive that demand.

So when pimps are finding vulnerabilities, what they will do is what we call sell the dream.

And so they will find and get into what I would say is everyone has a broken piece of their life, right?

Everyone has something that is a vulnerability for them.

And what a pimp will do is identify that and then they will exploit it.

And when I say they will exploit it, so for example, if someone is...

let's say they are coming out of the foster care system and they identify that they are unhappy with their foster care parent.

Maybe they even say that they have been sexually abused by their foster care parent.

That pimp will then say, well, if you come with me, that won't have to happen to you anymore.

I can give you a really nice house.

I can give you shoes.

I can give you all the things that you really want.

And when you are a vulnerable person, stuck in already an oppressive cycle from someone else, and there is what you see as a glimmer of hope, the pimp uses that, and that is how they recruit and they begin to groom.

Pimps also rely on books in order to gain control and manipulate their victims.

This is just one of many pimp and kin.

Ms. Voorhees and I had a case where there was a written journal from the defendant and he wrote down ways in which he would recruit and exploit his victims.

So Pimp and Ken said, weakness is the best trait a person can find in someone they want to control.

If you can't find a weakness, you have to create one.

You have to tear someone's ego down to nothing before they will start looking to you for salvation.

As I indicated previously, some of the control and manipulation tactics once they have exploited and began to groom is then how do they keep that person within their control?

They will, very similar to domestic violence situations, they will isolate their victims.

It does not mean they move them across the country, but maybe it means they take away their phone previously and give them a new phone.

They remove access to family, friends, anyone who they can rely on.

If someone has a substance abuse issue, they will then keep them on and off balance by giving them drugs, then taking the drugs away to have them withdraw, to then have that person be dependent on them to need the drug or to engage in commercial sex, and the benefit or the reward, in air quotes, is the pimp supplying them with the drug that they are withdrawing from.

It is a constant game of keeping the victim off balance, and so if the victim is doing the same thing one day, she could do the same thing the next day, but the pimp may respond differently because the life in the game is violent, It is manipulative and the only way to keep control over these victims and to keep them from going away so these pimps can continue to make money is to instill this fear, this dependency and this isolation in them.

These are some examples of violence and coercion from a case that I had.

The pimp grabbed his gun, pointed it at her head, knee, stomach, and vagina.

Excuse my language.

Which one do you want to get shot off first?

Bitch, we're getting your money and you're choosing me.

He hit her repeatedly with a belt, kicked her in the mouth, caused teeth to chip, wrapped the belt around her neck, filled the bathtub with cold water, and then submerged her head with the belt wrapped around her neck in the water.

These are also cases of very awful violence, including box cutters as well to the side of the face.

Some pimps will only beat the legs of the victims so that their faces are still pretty enough for sex buyers, and it does not damage the product to the point where they cannot sell it.

and so it is important to know that that can happen.

The photo in the middle was a case with Detective Washington and I do know from us previously presenting it that he indicated that this was a very violent attack by a trafficker, I believe, on this victim.

he had damaged her face so badly it was, I believe, unrecognizable and the image was too graphic to present.

This is also another victim.

This was a victim, I believe, of Ms. Voorhees' case.

Ann, do you want to explain the facts of this one briefly?

Sure.

This was a young woman who was being trafficked by a man named Winston Burt.

We prosecuted him because he got into a rolling gun battle on Aurora with an individual who rescued another girl that was working for him after she jumped out of a third story window and fled from him.

So this is again leading into danger within the community as well.

The facts surrounding this was that she had said something disrespectful to Mr. Burt.

She was beaten by him, forced into the bathtub, urinated upon.

These horrors are real.

So as I indicated the- oh, I'm sorry.

Just on this particular case when you said you prosecuted him, what does that mean?

I mean, how much time did this individual- like what are the- Sure, so Mr. Burt was charged both in state and in federal court.

It was a national trafficking operation moving girls from California and Arizona.

There were multiple young women working for him, some of whom participated, actually one of whom participated, the others did not.

and that is not uncommon at all given the parameters of don't talk to the police and don't cooperate.

We initially charged him in King County Superior Court with both human trafficking and shooting-related, assault-related charges.

The federal government then adopted the human trafficking portion of the case.

They don't have jurisdiction over crimes like drive-by shooting or assault in the first degree that happen on streets.

They have to have a national nexus.

So he was ultimately prosecuted in both jurisdictions.

He entered into a guilty plea and is serving over 10 years in prison.

Thank you.

And thank you for your work in that case.

So as I indicated, these women are seen as products and so one of the ways in which pimps will use control is by branding their victims and these brands are seen to other pimps and known to other pimps not to mess with their quote-unquote property.

and it's just a very demeaning symbol of control and manipulation.

We presented some photos from Spokane as well just to highlight that, as we noted, this is across the state.

And a note on the branding, I had a 17-year-old victim whose trafficker had her tattooed David's bitch above her derriere.

So, I mean, it's demeaning, it's dehumanizing.

And while pimps and traffickers cause a good deal of harm individually on their own, psychologically, physically, the side of the equation that this state has not yet come to terms with and dealt with are the buyers.

The buyers drive demand.

Without, and let's be real, it's men.

Without men being willing to purchase sex for their gratification, this market collapses.

Without men seeking to dehumanize women for their pleasure, the impetus reduces for traffickers to recruit and exploit those that are most vulnerable in our communities.

Who are our buyers?

They come from all age groups, all demographics.

They run the spectrum of different jobs.

Yes, some are day laborers, some are construction workers, some are students, text workers, teachers, lawyers, doctors.

They are people that you stand next to on the bus and wouldn't know that they purchased sex, but they are involved in this ecosystem and they make it thrive.

In King County between 2014 and 2023, our stats that are on the CSEC website that Ms. McGinnis referred to for undercover operations involving individuals seeking to purchase sex from children, 71% of our buyers were white men.

In national studies, this data is replicated.

They are found across all income groups.

The most frequent buyers tend to have higher incomes, making more than six figures.

There's a study out of California from 2016, I believe, that dealt with online sex buying.

Those individuals disproportionately had bachelor's degrees.

I think somewhere in the neighborhood of 38 or 48 percent had graduate degrees.

They were making in excess of $120,000 a year.

These are individuals with disposable income and a belief that it is their right to buy other individuals for their pleasure.

They treat the individuals that they purchase with disdain and disrespect, and there is always an imbalance of power and control.

A review of posts on sex buyers buying from chat rooms found that the majority of the posts expressed contempt for the women and girls, often referring to them as meat or merchandise.

Buyers in online chat rooms in Illinois admitted to being violent or aggressive with women in prostitution.

They recognize the harm that pimp and traffickers and buyers cause.

I mean, there's comments on these comment boards about, you know, her pimp might be hiding in the closet or she's super strung out today.

You better get to her before noon before she's able to re-up her drug supply.

They know that they are purchasing people with vulnerabilities who are being exploited.

Excuse me, can I ask a question on this general piece that we got here?

Because for our committee and our council, it's incredible because our focus has been on the Johns, has been on the men.

You spoke that your focus is on the Johns, the men, the traffickers, the pimps.

You haven't done a case since 2014. Yes, and I think about, you speak about the psychological aspects.

What are the psychological aspects of society when people are not happy that letters are sent to homes of men who are in cars that are frequent in these areas?

And by the way, all of us, I can't speak, I can't say absolutely all of us, but all of us have done ride-alongs.

I've been on Aurora with a cop and my colleagues who are not on this committee have done so.

We know.

We've been there.

And as a retired naval officer, I spoke to my department on an aircraft carrier and I told foreign ports and I said, do not be the demand signal because if you're a demand signal, that is what drives the supply network.

You are driving the supply network with your demand signal.

And I said that before foreign port calls.

And so, What is the psychological piece of our society that is opposed to the letters to these men who are there on Aurora in those areas that we all know relates to the sex buying?

Or why we have people in chambers when we as a counselor are trying to do something related to this problem on Aurora that was focused on the men.

What is the psychological aspect of society that wants to protect the men who are doing this?

It's a brilliant question and one that I struggle with every day doing this work and seeing the damage that is caused.

I think, you know, on a macro level, look at the Epstein files.

They still haven't been released.

Why?

Because there are powerful names within those files that people don't want to come out.

For too long, we've protected men and their bad behavior.

We know from studies and statistics that places where, for instance, sex work is legalized, that violence increases against women.

This does not make women safer.

And pretending that the men and the buyers are not the problem.

In many respects, I think it's because systemically and historically, men have made the laws.

Men have passed the laws.

and women have been oppressed.

And I think that we're having these conversations now, and I think that's brilliant and wonderful.

it is time for society to have a conversation, a real, brutal, honest conversation about what this behavior, you know, people say it's two consenting adults or it's the oldest profession, as Council Member Juarez mentioned, it's the oldest oppression.

And we need to say that out loud.

We need to speak that as a truth.

and we need to hold men accountable for the role that they play in this system, and not just the men that are the traffickers, the men that are the buyers.

That's the demand signal.

That's the demand signal.

You know, that's psychological impact.

What is the psychological aspect of our society, people here in Seattle, who decried Jeffrey Epstein and that whole piece, and they're demanding X, Y, and Z related to the Epstein cases.

but then turn around and say, well, but here on Aurora, that is, as Council Member Aurora says, the oldest profession, or you say, well, they're doing, that's their job.

You know, whereas I drive those areas with my daughter in the back, same thing with, you know, schools right nearby, because I know Council Member Rivera has the same issue, her daughters were in the same, you know, the schools nearby, soccer practice right nearby, all of the above, and then, you make your point about men, but there's so many women in our city who make that kind of two points that really not should be made together.

Oh, Epstein, this, that, whatever.

But then, oh, what a roar, that's just consulting adults or whatever.

Or they decry the letters again by SPD to those Johns or potential Johns.

It's just, It's a question that we as a city need to ask ourselves.

So everybody who makes these points, who you say, oh, well, that's just whatever on Aurora, but then decry Epstein.

These people, the people come in here and yell at us or do, because when we're trying to go in after the men, but we're the target.

We as a city need to stop, take a deep breath and think about that.

When I read something online by the chattering classes in the city that talk about these pieces, they need to stop and look at themselves and say, hey, they need to review this briefing.

They need to come to your office and get even in depth, more in depth in terms of these pieces because that's what's holding us up in part.

Go after the men.

It's simple.

I will just make an observation that I think is, it hurts deep that those who are impacted are historically oppressed.

The women who are impacted have been enslaved in comfort centers historically, have been bought and enslaved by white men and their cries for someone to do something about these buyers are being ignored.

And I will just make the observation and the note that these women have been oppressed for a very long time and I agree that it is time to really have a conversation.

I also agree that it's time to do something.

We have been talking for years.

Our predecessors who engaged in this work, Val Ritchie, Ben Gowan, the Honorable Sean O'Donnell, have been doing this work for a very long time.

Dr. Boyer has been doing this work for a very long time to try to address the demand.

And so the conversations are happening and we are trying to raise them to engage and say, this is real.

this is as real as it can get and these women have been raped they have been psychologically traumatized for the rest of their lives and they have to pick up where they left off and find a way to make it through the day after everything they've been through and I just want to make that note of observation because it is something that myself and Alex working with these survivors hear their cries for help in someone doing something because they have been oppressed in many other ways for so long.

And I don't disagree that the oppressive nature of unaffordable housing, that's a contributor, absolutely.

We are not denying those things.

But the demand is driving.

The demand to buy another human being a soul, a life, and there is no accountability for self-reflection on that, zero.

And the reason that Ms. Voorhees and I don't have those cases is because it is a simple misdemeanor and we prosecute felonies.

Thank you, Chair, for having this presentation today.

and thank you both for being here.

And I heard your testimony in Olympia, so thank you for that.

One thing we haven't talked about that I do think is problematic as well is that there is a conflation about folks we've heard in chambers say women who have come to say, I'm engaged in sex work and I am doing that.

I'm choosing to do that versus what we're talking about here, which is not consensual.

It is sex trafficking, oftentimes involves minors, oftentimes children who are vulnerable.

And I think this conflation is really problematic because it gets us away from the piece about the buyers are a huge problem, and it gets us into this space arguing between what's my body, my choice, and what's trafficking.

And I think that's harmful.

It's harmful to the women that you're trying to help.

The other piece I want to say is we hear and Council Chair Kettle, you alluded to this is, you know, folks that come to chambers to say that, you know, what we're doing is hurting victims.

When in fact, what we're doing is trying to help victims.

And so as you said, the focus for you all is not to hurt victims, is to, help victims get away from their abusers, to prosecute pimps and buyers, all in helping the victims and this human trafficking situation broadly.

because it seems to me you all are trying to do the best you can and it's one victim at a time, but there are many victims and this is something that we really need to tackle bigger than one victim at a time.

I'm not saying we shouldn't, we definitely should do one victim at a time, yes.

And we need to come to terms that this is a bigger issue and we don't, we need to stop with the arguments about whether this is pimps or buyers or the women or whoever.

I think this is another example of I say this a lot, particularly in Seattle, because we are a blue state.

Our hearts are all in the right place.

I think there isn't a person that wouldn't say, we want to help all the women and the children and the boys who are caught up in this.

And yet we can't seem to get to a place where we're actually doing something about it because we're having these disagreements about, well, you know, So I really wish that we could get to a place Our laws are catching up to what we need to do, which I know that you're trying to do, that's your side job in addition to your day job, is to testify, be here, talk to Olympia legislators to actually pass laws that are gonna help our victims and more importantly that are gonna help hopefully one day eliminate this human trafficking, sex trafficking situation.

which is what we're talking about today.

It's not the only human trafficking but it's what we're talking about today, sex trafficking.

And I will say that my daughters did go to Ingram High School and their friends got solicited on Aurora because it's right off of the activity that we're talking about today.

Equally important is there is a middle school.

Both of my colleagues' district, Councilmember Juarez, and I really appreciate your leadership on this, Councilmember Juarez.

They're, you know, the middle school Robert Eagle staff.

Those young, their children, they're getting solicited if they're on Aurora.

This is not okay.

and so yet while we're spinning about how to do best for the victims, we're not paying attention to the fact that we need some strong legislation that will help us go after the buyers and the pimps and that we stop spinning on this other piece and arguing about whose consent, you know, this consensual piece.

That's not what we're talking about here.

So I think to me, it's a red herring.

and we need to really get to, we're talking about sex trafficking and we need to do something about both the buyers and the pimps, full stop, hardcore.

And so I really, that is my opinion.

I do have two daughters, so, and I am a Latina woman who's been working on all issues related to impacts to my community for the entire, I'm in my 50s now, for a very long time.

So I really appreciate my colleague for your comments.

I appreciate my colleague, Council Member Juarez for her comments.

This is a huge issue in the indigenous community.

Women are getting stolen and then trafficked, missing women.

And I just feel like we are not robustly going after this because we're spinning around this legal piece and trying to I don't this whole movement of defunding things and we're not going about it the right way.

No, there's a lot of conflation.

Yes, there are factors that we need to address that leads to these young people being trafficked to begin with.

Yes, we need, to your point, affordable housing.

We need to, the foster care system needs reform.

The juvenile justice system needs reform.

We all agree on all these pieces.

So to me, it is really disheartening when I am living in a blue city where we all agree on these pieces, but yet we can't agree on how to tackle it.

And we are wasting time while we're spinning on these things that to me are so clear.

So the last thing I'll say is our actions like the soap which everyone was, you know, we had a lot of people come to chambers and fight against.

Again, it was meant to disrupt and have an opportunity to help the victims.

And why people can't see that that's what we're trying to do and that you all really are helping victims is beyond me.

And so I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, you have more of your presentation and I think you're going to talk more about how you help the victims and I want to hear more about that.

But I just, as you can hear, we're all impassioned about this.

And as a mom, I am especially impassioned about, not that if you're not a mom, you're also impassioned, but just to say where my passion is coming from.

And this impacts all of us.

every one of us and all our children in this city.

Because to your point, people assume that these kids are not from families where parents are engaged.

Some of them are.

Just like some of the buyers are lawyers and doctors and teachers and you would never think and actually there are people involved in this industry on the trying to help side who are also engaged.

Just like drug trafficking, there are people who are supposed to be helping on the, you know, prevent side who are engaged.

So we gotta be honest about all this and we really need to do something about this.

So anyway, really robustly and support laws that are going to actually help the victims and stop victimizing them further by spinning about things that are really, I think, a conflation of what we're talking about.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Council Member.

I think you're so right about time.

We have been talking about this for, in our office, we've had specially designated prosecutors on this for over two decades.

And time is of the essence.

Every time we delay taking a step and trying an innovative something, whether it's the Dear John letters or the legislation that Rep Stearns is sponsoring, that is more kids being drafted into this system, recruited into this system, this system that it is incredibly hard to break away from.

And I'll throw out something else that is really time-sensitive with respect to this.

FIFA is coming.

That's right.

We know that large-scale tourist and sporting events lead to an increase in human trafficking.

This is true of the NBA finals, the Super Bowl, and FIFA, we are going to have a worldwide audience and wouldn't it be nice to say that Washington State stands with women, stands against misogyny, stands against sexism and stands against racism and wants to protect people from the harms that this system, this ecosystem that buyers fund perpetuates.

and so I wanna talk a little bit, I think you were asking some questions about people who are opposed or somehow think that this is consensual so it's okay.

The problem is you can't make sex work safe.

It is inherently dangerous.

It is inherently a power imbalance and if I can have the next slide.

I think you need to hear it from the buyers themselves and how they view the individuals that they are purchasing.

43% of men believe that if they pay for sex, the woman should do anything they ask.

That means if you have an offer and acceptance with a client as a sex worker and you say, okay, I will do this, but it will be with a condom and it will only be, and I'm gonna use real clinical terms here, it will only be vaginal sex with a condom.

When that woman is alone in a room or a car or a park with a power imbalance and a man who wants what he wants, condoms are removed Anal sex is forced, oral sex is forced.

There's no other profession where things are entering your orifice where people are not protected.

Think about your dental hygienists, even your beauty practitioners wear gloves and masks.

This is the most intimate of contact without real protection.

The one thing that I also want to add to that that is a reality is, especially when you have a pimp that is driving what is happening in that room, if a victim wants a condom used because they don't want to be exposed to potentially harmful things, but a buyer's willing to pay more, which is very common, for unprotected or just any other sex act, and that victim does not wanna do it, if that makes more money for the pimp, the victim is then forced to engage in that, which while they may be verbally saying, fine, you can do this to me, behind closed doors, that psychological consent is driven by that third party manipulation, violence and coercion.

I just wanted to make that point.

That's a great point.

Um, as I noted earlier, um, 75% of men who buy sex understand that there are pimps involved, that these individuals are being trafficked.

Um, and 40% acknowledge that they know a woman who is engaged in prostitution who was under the control of a pimp or trafficker at the time that they purchased that individual.

And I just want to clarify, too, when I say, so, there's a conflation.

The sex trafficking, what we are talking about here is involves pimps and men and other, you know, having control over women.

So I think the conflation is there is a sex industry and women are saying, I want to do that, no pimp involved, like they're versus that's not what we're talking about here.

So we're not We are talking about that.

We are talking about something entirely different that is driven by pimps and buyers, underage children who cannot consent by virtue of the fact that they're underaged.

That's what we're talking about here.

And then of age women who have been stolen.

This is not consensual.

like in any way, shape or form.

So I want to distinguish that it's important because these are the arguments for the work that you all are doing.

And I just want to make that very clear.

Thank you.

Whether sex work is done out on the streets like in Aurora or in hotels, 21% of women in escort services stated that they had been forced to have sex more than 10 times.

This is the same percentage whether it happens on the street or behind closed doors.

One woman reported the following objects had been inserted into her body.

Fruit, a broomstick, a ferret, a perfume bottle, nightsticks, nunchucks, a sex toy with tape on it, and a hand with bracelets still on it.

Research done in Chicago found that moving prostitution indoors does not make it safe.

The severity of violence in indoor venues in this study was high, and some of the same types of violence were even higher than street-level prostitution.

This is a direct quote from a buyer of a woman who was working in an illicit massage parlor.

Once with a petite little spinner, about 40, who told me, no BJ, no blow job, but then I simply insisted firmly, yes, you suck, and grabbed her head and she didn't resist.

that was one of the wildest MP experiences I've ever had.

I completely face effed her where she had to puke on the floor twice and would clean it up and then come back to me where I would eff her face silly again.

I even had her licking my asshole that time.

I think I gave her $80.

$80 for that level of dehumanization.

We talk about Aurora and hotels and motels and pimps and traffickers, but this also happens in illicit massage businesses, which if you drive around the city, the state, the county, you can pretty much tell which ones they are.

Next slide.

These are just some other things that men have said.

She is an object placed there by society for men like us to use and move on.

These are actually posted on online websites where men review sex or talk about their encounters with individuals in sex work.

Find them, fuck them, forget them.

This is the gold standard for men's spiritual health, probably women's too, but I really don't care about that.

Um, in one, uh, the one in yellow was actually an undercover group texting with sex buyers trying to get an understanding of why they were purchasing sex.

The sex buyer says, so are you gonna suck my dick or not?

Stupid fucking whore, spread your legs, and that's it.

That's all you're worth.

A cum dumpster.

This is not pretty woman.

This is not Richard Gere riding into the rescue and taking Julia Roberts to his mansion in Beverly Hills.

This is the reality that individuals, whether they're forced by a pimp or a trafficker or forced by choice or circumstance or inability to put a roof over their heads or feed their kids, these are the men that they are forced to deal with.

It cannot be made safe.

Prostitutes are like product, like cereal.

You go to the grocery store, pick a brand you want, pay for it, it's business.

She has no rights because you are paying for a sex act.

She gives up the right to say no.

Not my words, his words.

And this has tremendous impact on victims and survivors, those that do survive.

Studies show that there is up to a 200% time higher mortality rate for individuals involved in commercial sex work.

Individuals that engage in prostitution suffer from PTSD at rates higher than combat veterans.

This study that we cited is 53%.

Some say it's as high as 63 or 68%.

And that's not to mention the physical harms, exposure to STIs, bodily fluids, just the physical trauma that a body goes through when you're forced to have sex with 10 different men a day, vaginal prolapse, anal prolapse, traumatic brain injury from repeated beatings, these are all common things to see and whether It's a public health issue, crisis as well, because these dangers can't be rendered obsolete by us pretending that this is consenting adult behavior.

The realities are just too stark.

As I mentioned, exposure to STDs, HIV, forced abortion, forced sterilization, urinary tract infections, bladder inflammation, fecal incontinence, infertility, cervical cancer, oral cancer, and other issues associated.

The list really goes on.

So these are just some voices of what we call survival from some of the research and data.

When a pimp says he's going to torture you, what I've seen is girls in dog cages, girls being waterboarded, stripped down naked and put in the rain and cold outside and having to stand there all night.

and if you move, you'll get beaten.

I've seen girls get hit by cars and stunned with stun guns.

I've seen girls burned and strangled.

If you want to use the restroom, you have to ask.

If you want to eat, you ask.

And if you don't get permission, you just don't do it.

It's more than physical domination.

It's emotional and mental and that's the domination that tends to linger.

And I really just want to highlight that Ms. Voorhees and I see.

I had a case where she was 16 she was trafficked by a pimp, and a reveal of their text messages showed that she had to ask if she could get water.

This is from a study and a report, but it is reflected every single day in our cases and what comes across our desk.

These are not foreign concepts to the work that we do.

And if you speak with survivors about the violence, you will always hear, unfortunately, something new, but there are obviously repetitive things that continuously happen.

A week into the job I started vaginal bleeding probably due to overworking my body so I informed her saying I couldn't continue but she pressed me to keep working with cotton pads packed in the vagina during intercourse saying that customers wouldn't notice.

So I repeated every hour the process of packing in and removing the bloody cotton pads from my vagina so as to hide the bleeding from customers per her instruction.

Well, as we just ask that question of what can be done, House Bill 2526 is a bill that our office is standing strongly behind, and it is a bill to stop the extreme physical and sexual violence against children and women that is directly driven by sex buyers using their money to buy sexual access to vulnerable people.

This bill was heard by the House Community Safety Committee on January 20th last week in Olympia.

I testified on behalf of the bill.

There were a lot of other survivors who testified on behalf of the bill in support.

And that bill does need a committee vote of approval by February 4th.

As you are all aware, it's a short legislative session this year.

That bill directly addresses sex buyers, increasing the crime of patronizing a prostitute from a simple misdemeanor to a Class C felony.

It also would double the associated fines and fees.

And as the bill was originally written, there was a small percentage that was going to law enforcement officers.

we have amended that from our end and we are seeking to have all the funding from that go directly to survivors.

And what that means is that upon conviction, deferral, a resolution of some sort on the charge for the felony, the defendant, the sex buyer, would be required to pay those fines and fees and they would go directly back to the municipalities to assist with survivors.

That can be done in prevention work, that can be done in supportive housing, that can be done in any resources that could be helpful to that municipality that they see fit in order to assist survivors.

The final note that I'll make with regard to assisting survivors, as Ms. Voorhees indicated previously, we have a lot of great law enforcement officers in this field with our detectives, but they wear many hats.

They're not just detectives.

They are social workers.

They are advocates.

They play multifaceted, dynamic roles.

to work with these victims.

And so some of our officers will have like a bucket of tampons, pads, blankets, extra clothes, or take a survivor to the store to get fresh underwear.

And so there are many ways that survivors can be supported.

And so I just wanted to highlight a few of those.

I'll let you take this.

This is just more about the bill.

Right now there's very little incentive for law enforcement to do a lot of proactive work around arresting someone for a simple misdemeanor by elevating the crime to a felony level offense.

it makes it something that we believe law enforcement will take much more seriously.

Not that they don't already, not that they don't already do fantastic work, but when you're arresting someone for a crime that they're probably not even gonna be booked into the jail for, that takes that officer off the street for a really low, I don't wanna say it's a low level offense because we all know it's a really serious offense, but it's low in terms of what our legislature has said the ramifications for committing that offense are.

The money to survivor services, that is directed to the municipalities so they can decide what is best for their community.

What the City of Seattle chooses to invest in is going to be different than what a municipality in Cowlitz County thinks is the best use of that money for survivors and their community they can partner with.

NGOs, places like BEST and REST and OPS and Waze and YWCA.

I mean, there's so many, we have so many tremendous organizations here, but it leaves it to the municipalities to decide what's best for their jurisdictions.

So I guess, you know, coming here, we were thought to, told to think about and ask.

I don't know that there is an ask other than for people to listen.

for people to hear these stories, for people to understand the realities of human trafficking in this ecosystem.

We can always use additional resources for survivors back when the legislature decriminalized prostitution for juveniles, so it's no longer we can't arrest a juvenile for engaging in an act of prostitution.

the legislature promised receiving centers on both sides of the state.

Those were to be places safe, locked facilities where kids could go and have immediate access to substance use disorder, mental health, trauma-informed support, where they would be not locked away because they had done something wrong, but locked away, at least for a period of time, to be taken away from their traffickers and taken out of that environment and be given resources.

There was one in eastern Washington for a very short period of time.

At that time, I was in Braylispot in South King County, and I had detectives from Kent driving kids to Spokane and back and forth on overtime.

And we all know that's not a great use of law enforcement resources, right?

But it was in these cases because those kids desperately needed those services.

We've never had one on the west side of the mountains.

We're in conversations right now.

with some individuals, and I'm happy to talk with any of you further about this privately, about some ideas that we've had for getting a receiving center up and running in King County.

We've been in talks with the county, some county-level folks, some folks with the city attorney's office, and we'd be happy to continue to engage in those conversations.

We can never have enough resources for survivors.

When we have a juvenile, for instance, that is recovered off of Aurora, Whether or not that kid wants to participate or is willing to participate or engage in services or engage in a prosecution, that is not our number one goal.

Our number one goal is making sure that that child is safe.

We have no place to take that child.

Even if that child were to say to detectives, to their DCYF case manager, to whomever the adult in their life is, I've been using drugs for too long.

And we hear our kids say this, 15, 16, 17 years old.

They want to get off 13 years old.

There are no treatment beds available.

We have to tell that child, OK, fill out this paperwork.

Have your parents or your DCYF case manager fill out this paperwork.

We're going to get you on a waiting list.

And it could be three to six months before we can get you a treatment bed.

Yes.

That's reality.

I mean, in addition to all of this, we also work with partners across the spectrum in a multidisciplinary team approach to individuals that we believe are juveniles that are at risk or being sex trafficked.

And we have these hard conversations every week about a different kid.

And the solution is almost always the same.

There is no solution.

There is no place for that person to go.

There is no safe place where they're not just gonna get snatched up by their trafficker or some other trafficker again.

And so I think that is a really important conversation.

That's one of those conversations that I think we should have.

I will always advocate for more resources for law enforcement.

I know that all law enforcement agencies are strapped across the board right now with bodies and funding and needing to allocate resources to different projects and directives.

And so I will always advocate for more law enforcement.

You know, at the prosecutor's office, Lisa Mannion recently went to the county council and asked for additional support for the position that Brayla and I are in.

We asked the county council for additional money for additional prosecutors to work in this field and in other areas.

across the office.

And it was a pretty resounding no.

One thing that I think would be super helpful, and we've started talking with Erica Evans and the city attorney's office about whether there's some way that we could partner to share a resource.

What comes to mind for Brayla and I, because these cases are massive and we really are digging into the cases on the traffickers.

They involve vast amounts of data, digital evidence, recordings, jail telephone calls, cell phones, social media, having a designated assistant to, for instance, help us comb through that evidence, help us sort through that evidence.

Because it's either Brayla and I or our detective that's doing that work.

If that detective, which, and we all do it, we're certainly not complaining about the work that we do, it's fascinating.

but to have someone, an additional person who can help cull through some of that evidence might free up a detective who doesn't have to spend eight hours at his desk culling through a cell phone but could be out on the street recovering another survivor or conducting interviews or doing follow-up to recover video.

There's just different things that we can use resources for differently.

Normally I go last as chair, but first I want to say when you said that regarding nowhere to go and so forth, that is reality.

You know what's going through my mind?

That is failure.

You could say that is reality, but that is failure.

I'm glad you brought up our city attorney and city attorney's office because I was going to ask that question whether you could speak to that relationship and the possibilities and also with our new executive with Mayor Wilson and her team that I recently met and have been engaged with because this is important and it's important for everybody who's now in these new seats to look at things as they are not as they're described and again the chattering classes because this is a major issue and so and I will quickly ask and I'll turn over to my colleagues is with short staff and these pieces, Aurora, we have invested a lot related to the CCTV program and the real-time crime center program.

And my hope is that that is assisting you in your work and then not just the work of you, but King County Sheriff, King County Metro, SPD and the city attorney's office.

I filed a case yesterday where the vehicle that was involved was identified because of the use of the real-time crime center video.

Awesome.

So the real-time crime center yesterday was an assistant to you.

Correct.

Thank you.

Councilmember Warrens.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I'll be brief.

Thank you.

I'm so glad we had an opportunity to meet before this, and we did sit down and meet with and speak to City Attorney Evans and King County Prosecutor Mannion, so we were all aware of this.

And I'm really glad you addressed the House Bill 2526, which I understand is going to be an executive hearing on the 29th.

and then, of course, you're going to wait for the committee vote on February 4th.

Let me just briefly ask you, because I have a few follow-ups, just more informational, but to also ask you, on the Senate Bill 5936 by Senator Orwell, which is mainly directed, and I think we talked about this, towards businesses which I deem as co-defendants and enablers, because they're part of this, if you want to call it this, this business model, if indeed women are products.

that we've been unable to disrupt.

So that's one thing.

And Mr. Chair, you brought up something that we've been talking about for the last month, and you buried the lead.

I told her, I said, yes, we have an ask.

And so I'm gonna say this now, and I know that Council Member Strauss, our budget chair is listening.

When we were saying, what do we do, our meetings with City Attorney Evans, Inkey County Prosecutor Mannion, is when budget starts gearing up well before, I'm hoping May or June, that we look at funding a FTE for the county and the city, which I talked to City Attorney Evans about for exactly what you were sharing.

I said, well, I think you need to talk to the women that are actually doing this work about what they actually need.

that the city and the county can share to gather this information and assist you and the detectives.

The other issue is that I know that Abigail Echo Hawk, my understanding, has provided public comment and she's a dear friend and worked with us on missing murdered indigenous women and the Violence Against Women Act.

So we have a long history there of working with them in indigenous communities.

And I know that we also talked about the tribal jurisdiction piece and bringing in the tribes.

There's at least eight or nine tribes on the I-5 corridor that are actively involved and did push the legislation for missing, murdered, and the Violence Against Women Act.

and the Sex Trafficking Act that are trauma-informed with their own police department with community and addressing not just, they're not focusing on the women, they're focusing on the buyers and that's what we wanted to point at.

You know, I've been around long enough to be able to share this and this will also be my last point.

Well, two things.

First, this Seattle City Council, in the last nine cycles, we've given a lot of money, and I'm really proud of it, to Aurora Commons under the leadership of former CEO Elizabeth Dahl, starting in 2016, took their budget from not very much to a whole bunch, working with ops, UW, getting medical care, trying to get extra beds, working with these folks on how we get women out of this business that are indeed being trafficked.

against their will and no agency.

And you're right.

That whole pretty woman thing is just complete bullshit.

That's not what's happening at all.

And so when I hear that, it drives me crazy.

And I think you and I had a conversation about that one time as well.

There was a time many, many years ago when I was a very young idealistic public defender in the day, and I still am to some degree, but when there wasn't a DV unit, a domestic violence unit, there were not DV advocates.

because back then, as you said, laws were made for men by men in every way, and that is the system, the way it's built.

Long story short, I'm not gonna go into all that, but so getting the establishment in Anglo-Western law to understand that women are not property, Domestic violence is a crime.

I don't care if you slap the word domestic in front of it.

And people have to be charged for that.

And you have to have survivor and victim services.

And so there was a time when people didn't think that that was a thing.

And so when I hear people say, well, you can't really arrest.

It's really hard to do this.

It's the world's oldest profession.

You can't really arrest the John.

You can't do the lice plate reader.

Some of these women want to be out there.

Again, I'm going to call bullshit.

That is not what we're talking about here.

and I've said this before on this dais, I was taught this as a little girl and I've heard it say it many times, you can judge a society by the way they treat their women and girls.

And we are not a priority, we have to fight for that.

And so what we have to do is take this sensibilities of this culture and the language and translate it into Anglo-Western law that yes indeed this is a priority and we are going to commit services and money to this problem.

And so, you know, you saw what happened with the cameras and all that other stuff.

You know, the bottom line was this.

We were trying to be victim-focused on an issue that, quite frankly, has been seen through the lens of the patriarchy and misogyny, which I just can't stomach anymore.

And I have daughters as well and grandkids and granddaughters and sons too, so it isn't just what I'm talking about.

So I know when we talk, and the thing that we're talking about with Representative Stearns, and hopefully on the other piece, because I do believe that the motels and the Airbnbs are co-defendants.

You know what my view is on that.

You know, remember what I told you what to do?

Yeah, start pulling their licenses, because we shut down the Georgian for that reason back in 17 or 18. So I asked, and thank you, Mr. Chair.

So I've been working closely with the Chair, Chair Kettle, because he is the Chair of Public Safety, and my experience being a former public defender and King County Superior Court judge, that these things can be attacked and we can do it.

So my ask was, and I wanted you to have that ask, and I'm going to do it for you again, is I really want to see us come together with the county and the city to look at an FTE in the budget, which actually addresses this and hopefully this is the beginning of what we saw when we started the DV units 30 years ago, 86, 85, I've been around almost 40 years as a lawyer now.

So I want to thank you because I know that this is a difficult presentation.

I know you've done it before, you did it last year in Olympia.

I went back and looked at some of the comments that came up during public comment that opposed your bill.

and I'm really glad that the Senate now is looking at it on the enabler side, the co-defendant side, the supply side, because they can't do this stuff alone.

They need to have a system from Vancouver to Portland on the I-5 and the 99 corridor to be able to do this.

And I did see some cases where motel owners were held liable ensued, Motel 6 and a couple other ones, because they know what's going on.

So again, and I look to the chair and my colleagues here who are all engaged, that we look up and tee up some legislation and some budget requests, and hopefully I can work with your office and the chair's office well before May-June.

So this is all wrapped up by August, so it can be hopefully in the mayor's budget.

I'm guessing this is very important to the mayor's office as well.

and the people that she has surrounded herself with who care about these issues.

So thank you very much.

And thank you, Mr. Chair, for indulging me.

Thank you, Council Member Juarez.

And yes, this committee works two things, specific issues and set up the arguments for budget.

That's purposely done for those that don't know.

and so thank you very much Council Member Juarez.

And I really appreciate the co-defendant piece and I got three words that go to that.

Chronic nuisance properties.

We have a chief that uses chronic nuisance properties and we have to use it for this as well.

After our establishments, gun violence, but also for trafficking, because that as you noted in your briefing is also violence.

So thank you.

Council Member Lin.

I just wanted to make a point that trafficking is also driving the gun violence.

As we've seen in Aurora.

Very good point.

Yeah, and we don't have to go into all of that, but Ms. Voorhees and I commonly see that there's a lot of crossover with other units in this work, and so I just wanted to note that there's a lot of crossover.

It's inherently entwined in a lot of these cases.

and there's just not enough people looking at this and prioritizing this.

Thank you.

You're right.

Council Member Lin.

Thank you, Chair.

And thank you to our presenters.

Really hard subject and I can't imagine what it's like to work on these cases and to have to do this day in and day out.

I'm not an expert in this field.

I am learning.

I've got a few questions and just one comment.

Just on the presentation, I understand the need for us and for the public to fully understand the horrors, but also just wondering in terms of the Some of the graphic footage of women's faces, wondering if those could be blurred or some of the identifying images, if those could be just concerned about victims' identities and re-traumatizing.

So I'm not sure if that's a question, if you want to respond, if there is a specific reason, but just wondering if in the future if there's a reason why there wasn't blurring for some of the faces.

In some of the photographs, if we had, for instance, blurred the eyes, you wouldn't have seen the injuries.

So some of it is that these are also photographs that have been previously admitted in court or as part of case files.

And I understand that they're probably public record, but still just want to be thoughtful about some of the victims here.

I do just I'm curious about because I do think there I think we are all horrified by the harm that is occurring and I do think but I do think there are differences opinion about how best to prevent this from continuing and so my I guess one of my questions was how much including victims might have different opinions about how and I heard you say that, for example, there is no place for people to go.

And I guess one of my questions is, you know, making I just want to make sure that we have victims voices, that that is centering this work.

And Just so I don't know if you could talk about sort of, you know, how do we make sure that we are serving their voices, you know, they're obviously not here at the table and I'm not sure if they want to be, but some of the differences of opinion that we hear from community are people that are victims and I just want to make sure that we're not sort of glossing over that.

Thank you for that question.

One thing that I will note is that we have lots of conversations with survivors of trafficking and We did not have survivors here today.

There were multiple survivors who testified in support of House Bill 2526 who we work with and have listened to their stories.

And I will tell you that that testimony was very difficult for them.

because they are having to constantly tell society why society should care about the horrors that they have been through.

Ms. Voorhees and I, I would like to say that we have a good working relationship with them.

and they are in support of our work and they are in support of that bill and there are also survivors and victims as you noted and who testified who did not support the bill and you know we have had a meeting with some of those survivors from some of that community.

And we listened to their feedback, which in part drove the change in the amendment for House Bill 2526 to create more funding for survivors.

And so the conversations are being had, but as I think everyone has noted here today, that there are some deferring of opinions and we do hear the opposing positions but we do remain in support of turning the patronizing a prostitute statute into a felony and we do have constant communication with survivors and with direct service providers.

We work with the YWCA, the Silent Task Force.

We are in communication with REST.

And while all of those agencies don't necessarily have legislative or policy positions, They know that we are in support of the victims who do decide to come forward and work with us and engage with law enforcement and prosecution.

And we also recognize that not everyone wants to do that.

And we understand the risks that are very detrimental to people's health in doing that.

It's very complicated.

It's very hard.

Ms. Voorhees and I have to make tough decisions often, but I do believe that our work is driven by the desire and the profound commitment to protect the women who have been harmed in this oppressive nature of the commercial sex trade.

I think one thing of note too, with respect to the survivor testimony for the opposition at the legislative committee hearing, what struck me is that every single one of those young women that spoke or spoke on behalf of another all talked about having been exploited as children, trafficked as children.

and I think that that can't be unheard or unsaid because simply turning what was your exploitation into your only option for survival or your choice, if that is your choice, is your way, it's what you grew up with, it's what you know.

And so I certainly don't mean to discount any survivor story.

They are all unique, they are all important, and they all deserve a voice to be heard.

But again, it is the demand that sucked them all into this stream to be exploited as children, and whether they choose to continue that work as an adult or they continue to be exploited, we cannot, we can no longer turn a blind eye to half of the problem.

Thank you.

In terms of victim resources, helping people find safety, helping people, you know, flee the exploitation, I'm assuming there's probably not any sort of debate or difference of opinion that we just need a lot more resources there.

Correct.

Yes, and we are all on the same page about that.

You know, some direct service providers are just hanging on by a thread, and especially with federal funding being cut, that has just really impacted a lot of service providers.

They're having to turn to private grants, which I'm sure you're familiar with how awful the grant process can be.

And so, yes, we are, the more resources, the better.

We do not, you know, debate that or anything like that.

if we could create just a safe haven of resources for these individuals, it would truly be a dream come true.

But those resources have to span more than just one silo of trauma.

Our trafficking survivors Some suffer from substance abuse issues, PTSD, mental health issues, sexual abuse trauma, right?

And there are some domestic violence shelters who will only take domestic violence victims, right?

And that's not a dig, that's just the nature of how everyone is having to operate with what they have.

and so while you may be getting substance use treatment and that's wonderful, it doesn't necessarily address the underlying sexual trauma or the PTSD and so I just want to note that the resources have to be very in-depth, very across the board.

They have to be culturally responsive and trauma-informed that, you know, an indigenous survivor may have a different perspective and lived experience than a black survivor versus an individual who came from privilege but ended up being trafficked.

And so it has to be responsive to the different needs of the survivors to, in fact, be considered successful to support these women exiting the life or the game.

And thank you.

And I just have one one last question, chair, and maybe this would be for a future because it's probably too open ended.

But, you know, I would just love to kind of have a better understanding of I mean, I think there is the, you know, prosecution side of things and but what other approaches and obviously there are these, you know, the letters that were, you know, it was one approach that was recently taken.

I would love to understand what other approaches, whether demand side or, you know, supporting young women or, you know, to avoid this lifestyle or not lifestyle, to avoid this exploitation, sorry for my wording there, to better prevent this from ever occurring in the first place.

Just what other options we have, preventative options to prevent this harm, to prevent these crimes, and what other jurisdictions are doing if anything that are successful.

I think you raise a great point.

We'd be happy to talk offline with you about some of that.

What I think is so important about the point you make, and it is something that we have discussed with legislators, is this is not going to fix everything.

House Bill 2526 is just a piece of what we are trying to do, but there really needs to be a cultural shift and what is going to move that cultural shift are bigger conversations, hard conversations, tough conversations, as well as multifaceted approaches from the civil side, from the criminal side, from the survivor resource support side.

And so I just think your question is fair, it's valid, we're happy to talk offline about some of the stuff that we are either working on or thinking, but absolutely this needs to be a dynamic approach because one avenue is not going to solve this problem, which is part of why we believe we're in the position that we are in today.

So thank you so much.

Thank you, Councilmember Lin.

And to your last question, that also goes to the idea of the seam point pillar, you know, public safety, in this case, human services.

Councilmember Saka,

Thank you, Chair.

Ms. McGinnis, Ms. Voorhees, I just want to thank you very much for your very sobering presentation today.

I learned a lot, personally.

And so I really appreciate the presentation.

But more importantly, thank you for your underlying work that goes into prosecuting these cases.

It has a tremendous impact and value and benefit for our broader community, as difficult as these cases I can only imagine are, to work with every day.

I also want to thank my council member colleagues, council members Juarez and Rivera for your leadership.

on these issues that directly impact all of the city, but your respective council districts are obviously most disproportionately impacted.

So I really appreciate your leadership and all you've done and all you will do to find meaningful solutions to address the issue from a city of Seattle perspective.

All right, question.

was noted in the presentation.

FIFA World Cup this year coming.

There's an anticipated uptick in human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation during World Cup.

How is the prosecutor's office currently thinking about, you know, approaching that in terms of like are there any specific countermeasures or mitigations that you all are kind of planning for?

so on behalf of the prosecutor's office and or from what you're aware of with respect to some of your law enforcement agency partners or other community partners who do this work, not just policing?

We've been having conversations We've been having conversations about how we can work at this holistically.

I've actually been on a committee for the better part of the last 18 months to two years.

I make as many meetings as I can, but I'm often in court on Friday mornings when we meet.

There's a King County Council FIFA committee where we've been discussing different strategies.

One thing we would love to see roll out is a buyer information campaign to, you know, whether it is the city or the county offering up space on the side of buses or in bus shelters or billboard space, you know, to get out the word that buying sex causes harm.

I mean, many of you have said, and when we present some of this information to other groups, that people just don't know.

And so I think, you know, any kind of public information campaigns that we can get out ahead of FIFA We have, in concert with Rep Stearns, have had conversations about whether or not we can expedite implementation of 2526 should it pass out of committee and through both chambers so that it would become effective before the World Cup hits.

You know, are we going to have more bodies to prosecute cases?

No.

Will Ms. McGinnis and I work longer hours?

Yes.

It's just reality.

I can't speak to specific tactics that law enforcement is or is not going to take for sort of operational reasons, but I can say that we have been having conversations around this, what it will look like for our specialists in this area, as well as other law enforcement in their support of this work.

And so I can't go into too much detail there, but it is certainly conversations are being had.

and I think it's time for the city and the state and the county to say, come to Seattle, welcome for FIFA, buy a craft beer, go to this original Starbucks, take a ride on the Great Wheel, don't purchase another human being.

It's just that simple.

Well, thank you for that and wouldn't I don't necessarily expect you to go into detail about specific tactics or even particularly delicate law enforcement strategies that are anticipated, but I think the broader point and goal underlying my question is there's a plan.

This meeting is available to the public.

We want everyone to come to Seattle and enjoy our world-class experiences, in this case, with respect to World Cup.

We want them to go to Seattle Center and the waterfront and the stadium district, of course, and enjoy all there is to see.

Don't want them coming to be John's or buyers of this.

And people need to be on notice that if they are planning on doing that, there's gonna be consequences.

So in any event, appreciate the last two questions in particular from Council Member Lynn actually was able to address substantially address some similar questions that I had, although, and I'm glad we have this perspective, the prosecutor's perspective represented it as a very, very important piece in the broader, more comprehensive set of strategies and solutions to address the challenges.

We can't just pretend that the problem, focus on tomorrow and prevention and pretend the problem doesn't exist today.

but we also need a layered approach as I think I heard you all saying and part of that is prevention and addressing some of these really nitty gritty societal issues, complex societal issues and ideally making sure that we minimize and ultimately eliminate the victims and survivors in any event.

But I do think that is worth a deeper dive potentially in this committee, but I do appreciate the questions from my colleague, Council Member Lynn, and that brief exchange there as well.

And Council Member Saka, just to add to that, and oh, is Council Member Lynn off, or is he still on there?

I just also wanted to note, I encourage you all to visit the EverStrong website.

It was previously named Stolen Youth.

That went through a rebranding change at the consult of survivors.

That is an organization that I am proud to sit on the board of that focuses on prevention of child sex trafficking.

And there are resources.

We just had a launch in November, resources for parents.

Specifically, there's a guide.

I don't have little ones, but I guess Roblox is very popular nowadays.

and there are guides that are already developed that you can access.

You just create a portal login and there are free anti-trafficking prevention guides for teachers and parents and so we are working on that organization to also get moving and such, but I really just wanted to highlight that for you if any of you are interested to visit the EverStrong website and I'm happy to connect offline if you want to seek any of those resources and that is directly aimed at prevention.

So EverStrong is now used to be Stolen Youth?

Yep.

EverStrong.

Is it getting confused with the Hulu documentary?

That's what I heard.

I can't speak to why the name change.

Our former colleague Ben Gowen.

I can.

Yeah, I met her.

After consultation with survivors, the name change was done.

So final question here.

So I note that there are some, so obviously a very complex set of issues needs to be addressed multiple angles as we talked about.

But I'm aware of vaguely aware of some federal legislation five, ten years ago to eliminate certain classified ads online on certain marketplaces like Craigslist and Ultimately what it seems like based off of the different channels that you're you're telling me in terms of video games online and you know other offer up or whatever other channels people Seeking to engage in this human trafficking and commercial sex Sexual exploitation just found alternative ways to do that from a certainly from a techno technological perspective and so found ways to circumvent those laws and processes and safeguards in place.

Do you see, and that was federal, I think, legislation to address certain marketplaces, illicit marketplaces on Craigslist.

Do you see, from a local municipal city policy perspective, any opportunities to potentially help address some of these online marketplaces and these new forums, whether it's video games or OfferUp or the like?

We know, as we learned, most of these buyers are men seeking sex.

And so how can we, from a local perspective, best disrupt and not just disrupt, that just temporarily stops the flow, but dismantle the marketplace for these encounters from a local perspective.

Are you aware of any trends, for example, across jurisdictions nationally or even internationally to address that?

I think technology is always changing and always evolving, and it's always going to be an issue in these spaces.

What once was Backpage and Craigslist have become a proliferation of other sites offering commercial sexual services.

But in addition to those sites, what we see most frequently, and I think I don't have the answer to, but I think we need to start having some honest conversations about it.

I know there have been legislative hearings with respect to social media and their impact on kids.

Kids are being recruited through Snapchat, through Instagram.

Snapchat is pretty well designed for your messages to disappear, so less evidence trail.

I see cases involving juveniles who are actually advertising themselves on Facebook, on Instagram, on Snapchat, or being offered up there by their pimps or traffickers.

It's so important that we have these conversations, that parents monitor what's going on online.

I mean, and it's not even just the social media sites.

It's roadblocks.

It's all of these other places where kids are just inundated.

and also spaces where kids are spending less time face-to-face with people.

It's more time in a fairly insular world where you're communicating with people that you don't know.

You don't know what their true intentions are.

They're telling you you're beautiful.

They're telling you they want to be your best friend.

They're promising you things.

and in a world where, I mean, I was a teenage girl once, it was a long time ago, but I was, when you have insecurities, these sorts of insular spaces without supervision really do, I think, are a fertile breeding ground for recruitment.

And so I don't know what the answer is for our social media outlets, what accountability or responsibility can be had in those spaces.

but I do know from my work that those are places that are being abused by people to engage in exploitation and trafficking.

Appreciate that.

I mentioned earlier I had one final question.

I lied, apparently, because I have a follow-up question, but this will be quick, hopefully.

So I'm a proud parent of three young kids, a sixth-grader, a third-grader, and a first-grader.

At that age, especially the oldest, we're introducing to more, whether we want to or not, online.

and I also happen to represent Council District 1, which based off the last demographics data that I've seen has the second highest proportion of under 18 youth in the City of Seattle.

So a lot of working families in my Council District.

Can you offer any practice pointers or suggestions for parents to be aware and better track and monitor and prevent these kind of solicitations for minors and kids?

Online?

I would create a portal on EverStrong.

I would.

Those are some great resources that a lot of people have worked on.

I'm sorry, I can't hear you.

Would you mind speaking into that?

Oh, yeah.

I was just saying I recommend looking at what EverStrong has to provide from a prevention standpoint.

I am not a parent, so I will make that disclaimer.

But what we see is, okay, and I'm not telling you how to parent, so please don't take this as that.

Be back, I welcome it.

But, you know, listening to your kids, listening to the conversations, you know, really with girls, that adultification that I was talking about, you know, really keeping an eye on that.

When I was a kid, it used to be called fast.

I don't know if that term is still used, like, you know, don't be a fast little girl.

Yeah, she's a fast girl, whatever.

Yeah.

But, you know, like, common things that we actually see are, like, kids who come home and have unaccounted for money.

You know, the kids come home and, like, they have their nails done all of a sudden and things like that.

You know, those can be red flags of, like, who took you to get your nails done?

And so I know that may seem silly, but those are actually, like, very surface-level indicators of what's happening.

We also find kids lots of times may have a second phone.

And it's because it's used to communicate with their pimp or their trafficker.

Those are some of my tips, and I think that nowadays, It can be scary to talk about this.

Councilmember Rivera spoke about, I believe, your daughter's friends who were solicited on Aurora.

As a kid, that has to be very scary.

I think it's having those open conversations.

I also think it includes getting the schools involved.

We have got to get our schools involved.

I spoke with a woman at rest who said, your kid learns more on the way to school on their phone than they do listening to you at home.

And Instagram is very prevalent.

I would definitely keep some parental locks on those sort of things.

But it's also, I think, just having the very open dialogues with your kids and keeping an eye out for any any red flags and really talking about consent.

Consent, consent, consent is a conversation that I think can go a lot deeper than, you know, someone can't put their hands on you and that can go a lot deeper than sort of the things that we've discussed here.

I think the converse of that is we need to be having more conversations about consent with our boys.

Our office is partnered with coaching boys into men.

I'm probably saying the name of that program wrong, but one of our colleagues, the head of our Special Assault Unit, is actually really involved in that.

His name's Pat Lavin.

and these are programs where they're talking with, it's men on men, it is members of our sports community, members of our professional communities, having real conversations with boys about what it means to be a man, what it means to respect women, what no means, what consent means.

We can talk to our girls all we want and we will continue to do that, but I don't think that we should take boys out of the picture either when we're talking about the next generation that's coming through.

I think we need to have those conversations, frank conversations, with both genders at a young age.

Thank you so much.

No further questions, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Vice Chair.

I did have the request for one last question, but from my colleague Councilman Rivera, but we are at time unless it's like a super quick.

I just wanted to make a comment, Chair, that I want to thank our guests because I do think that you all get attacked a lot for your work in this space as if somehow you are hurting victims because there is a difference of opinion and by the way when I highlighted that it really was to name it and acknowledge it because there is and fully agree that women and children are getting sexually abused and exploited full stop and we need to do something about that actively.

period.

So I'm with you.

I'm here to work with you.

Whatever I can do to help in this space, I am 100% on board on this.

So just to be very clear and to also thank you because you do a lot to connect victim to services.

So for all the people that will attack prosecutors for doing the work that you're doing in this space, folks need to acknowledge that what you're really doing is trying to help victims, remove victims from the situation and that you're connecting victim victims to services, that that is equally something that you care about and robustly do.

And I wanna acknowledge that and name it for the public chair.

Thank you.

Okay, Council Member Barrett gets the last word.

Thank you.

She gets the last word.

We have reached the end of today's meeting agenda.

If there's any further business to come before the court before we adjourn, question mark?

I see you hear nothing.

Hearing no further business come before the committee, we are adjourned.

Thank you.

Thank you.

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