FORT SMITH -- The Fort Smith Police Department is entering into mutual-aid agreements with the Bentonville and Rogers police departments so officers in the Northwest Arkansas departments can receive training in handling human-trafficking investigations.
The Fort Smith directors Tuesday passed resolutions approving execution of the agreements.
Police Chief Kevin Lindsey said the agreement will allow the department to send Sgt. Chris Harris, head of the human-trafficking section of the department's street crimes unit, to Northwest Arkansas from Sept. 22 to 24 to train Rogers and Bentonville officers to work human-trafficking cases.
The Fort Smith Police Department has been working with the FBI and the U.S. attorney's office for the past 18 months to eliminate human trafficking in the area, Lindsey said.
"This is a serious problem, and it's a priority for the U.S. attorney, the FBI and our office," he said.
Lindsey said he received a letter last month from the FBI office in Little Rock requesting that Fort Smith send someone to provide training for the officers in Rogers and Bentonville.
He said human trafficking mostly involves prostitution. But in many cases, the investigators find traffickers have used women and minors as sex slaves.
In an email statement Tuesday, acting U.S. Attorney Kenneth Elser for western Arkansas said several investigations by the Fort Smith Police Department and the FBI have resulted in the U.S. attorney's office prosecuting several individuals for human trafficking and related crimes.
Elser said the U.S. attorney's office is planning to hold a conference in the near future on human trafficking to bring together local, state and federal law enforcement agencies and others who are involved with trying to eradicate human trafficking from the western Arkansas district.
"The recent number of convictions in our district for human trafficking or related crimes is the result of outstanding cooperation and efforts by local law enforcement and the FBI," Elser said in the email.
The Rogers Police Department Tuesday acknowledged that the mutual aid agreement will enable the Fort Smith Police Department to instruct its officers in human trafficking.
"This is more to get us prepared in the event that we begin to have issues with human trafficking and so we know what to look for," department spokesman Keith Foster said in an email statement.
In the Fort Smith area, Lindsey said, the police department and FBI have worked eight human trafficking cases in the last 18 months. He said the unit has one case it is currently working on.
Ryan Kennedy, spokesman in the Little Rock FBI office, said human trafficking is a priority for the FBI in Arkansas, as well as the U.S. attorney's offices in western and eastern Arkansas.
He said the agency is aggressively pursing the cases and is reaching out to local agencies to help.
The U.S. attorney's office in Fort Smith provided examples of recent cases.
One was Joshua "Zino" Reynolds, who pleaded guilty in federal court in Fort Smith on July 16 to one count of knowingly persuading, inducing, enticing and coercing an individual to travel in interstate or foreign commerce to engage in prostitution.
According to the plea agreement, the Fort Smith police conducted a sting operation and arrested a woman and a 17-year-old girl who said Reynolds persuaded them, by Facebook, to leave their pimp in Houston and travel to Fort Smith to go to work for him.
Odis Charles Grant Jr. pleaded guilty in federal court in Fort Smith on June 2 to one count of transportation of minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.
Grant's plea agreement with the government said he became Facebook friends with a 16-year-old Fort Smith girl and persuaded her and her 15-year-old friend to travel to Houston to work as prostitutes for him.
Gregory Lynnell Gibson pleaded guilty in federal court in Fayetteville on Aug. 26 to one count of sex trafficking of children.
His plea agreement said Fort Smith police notified Springdale police that a 16-year-old runaway from Fort Smith was at a Springdale motel working as a prostitute for Gibson. Arresting officers learned that the runaway had had sex with eight customers and turned over the $780 she made to Gibson.
NW News on 09/16/2015