5 ms·

"It was involved in 73 percent of all child trafficking cases reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children." If true, this is staggering.

Johnny555 9y ago
What I don't understand is that if all of this blatant child trafficking was going on, why the authorities weren't using the information to actually hunt down the traffickers. Driving them farther underground seems like it will make them harder to find. I doubt that losing backpage ads is going to make a big dent in the trade -- child trafficking is so abhorrent and so clearly illegal that the people involved will find other ways to connect.
- justicezyx 9y ago
  What’s the evidence of your claim?
- wavefunction 9y ago
  The "73%" is of course a major part of only a "100%" of cases interdicted, which completely ignores all those child pandering/trafficking incidents that were not stopped or disrupted by law enforcement. I think we only have estimates of the scale of total criminal activity.
  - Taniwha 9y ago
    or maybe it simply means that Backpage was the main vector that law enforcement had for finding traffickers
- jstarfish 9y ago
  > What I don't understand is that if all of this blatant child trafficking was going on, why the authorities weren't using the information to actually hunt down the traffickers. Driving them farther underground seems like it will make them harder to find. They were trying. Backpage has a history of being completely unhelpful in investigations (for reasons which are now quantifiable), and the amount of time it takes to conduct investigations and secure convictions far exceeds the time it takes for a pimp to ditch his burner phones and set up shop the next state over. Local PD can't chase them and the FBI doesn't have time to deal with this shit parade unless it's of sufficient scale. When there's a website that makes it as easy to buy a night with a 14-year old as it is to buy a used toaster, nuking that cesspool and making it more inconvenient for buyers and sellers alike creates chaos and denies service.
  - Johnny555 9y ago
    But they are selling something that has to be delivered in person, what's so hard about setting up undercover sting operations on both sides -- setting up meetings with pimps, and advertising to catch the johns? They don't even need backpage to help - like you said, the people placing ads aren't using their own phones or credit cards, so it's not even clear what help backpage could offer. Seems like police should be able to make a steady stream of arrests just from this one website.
    - jstarfish 9y ago
      > what's so hard about setting up undercover sting operations on both sides There are not enough qualified investigators or time in the day to run down every prostitute with an ad while Backpage plays shell games with the ones featuring children.
      - merpnderp 9y ago
        You don't need enough to catch them all in a single day. If 1 in 100 ads was a sting, in a few years all the pimps will be locked up and all the johns in the system.
sbr464 9y ago
It is staggering, but I feel that the # of cases reported and successfully resolved will be much less over the next few years. I feel it goes both ways, there will be less revenue for the bad actors. I’m reminded of the times in high school, the parents who would allow drinking somewhat at home, vs the parents who hardlined and drove kids away. At least they could keep an eye on them.

Johnny555 9y ago

What I don't understand is that if all of this blatant child trafficking was going on, why the authorities weren't using the information to actually hunt down the traffickers. Driving them farther underground seems like it will make them harder to find. I doubt that losing backpage ads is going to make a big dent in the trade -- child trafficking is so abhorrent and so clearly illegal that the people involved will find other ways to connect.

justicezyx 9y ago
What’s the evidence of your claim?
wavefunction 9y ago
The "73%" is of course a major part of only a "100%" of cases interdicted, which completely ignores all those child pandering/trafficking incidents that were not stopped or disrupted by law enforcement. I think we only have estimates of the scale of total criminal activity.
- Taniwha 9y ago
  or maybe it simply means that Backpage was the main vector that law enforcement had for finding traffickers
jstarfish 9y ago
> What I don't understand is that if all of this blatant child trafficking was going on, why the authorities weren't using the information to actually hunt down the traffickers. Driving them farther underground seems like it will make them harder to find. They were trying. Backpage has a history of being completely unhelpful in investigations (for reasons which are now quantifiable), and the amount of time it takes to conduct investigations and secure convictions far exceeds the time it takes for a pimp to ditch his burner phones and set up shop the next state over. Local PD can't chase them and the FBI doesn't have time to deal with this shit parade unless it's of sufficient scale. When there's a website that makes it as easy to buy a night with a 14-year old as it is to buy a used toaster, nuking that cesspool and making it more inconvenient for buyers and sellers alike creates chaos and denies service.
- Johnny555 9y ago
  But they are selling something that has to be delivered in person, what's so hard about setting up undercover sting operations on both sides -- setting up meetings with pimps, and advertising to catch the johns? They don't even need backpage to help - like you said, the people placing ads aren't using their own phones or credit cards, so it's not even clear what help backpage could offer. Seems like police should be able to make a steady stream of arrests just from this one website.
  - jstarfish 9y ago
    > what's so hard about setting up undercover sting operations on both sides There are not enough qualified investigators or time in the day to run down every prostitute with an ad while Backpage plays shell games with the ones featuring children.
    - merpnderp 9y ago
      You don't need enough to catch them all in a single day. If 1 in 100 ads was a sting, in a few years all the pimps will be locked up and all the johns in the system.

sbr464 9y ago

It is staggering, but I feel that the # of cases reported and successfully resolved will be much less over the next few years. I feel it goes both ways, there will be less revenue for the bad actors. I’m reminded of the times in high school, the parents who would allow drinking somewhat at home, vs the parents who hardlined and drove kids away. At least they could keep an eye on them.