ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina outlined the steps his department is taking to crack down on human trafficking. 

This comes after a high profile arrest of two suspected traffickers from out of state who forced teens into prostitution. 

“It’s a balanced approach where we pick up individuals who are promoting and utilizing sex workers for services,” said Medina. 

The chief says since September, APD made 40 arrests related to human trafficking. He says they are not targeting sex workers, but working to connect them with resources. 

“And a lot of times I hear like, ‘Why doesn’t APD just go out there and arrest these individuals?’ And one of the biggest things that I want to remind the community, and that’s why we have some of our community partners with us here today, is a lot of these individuals are victims,” Medina said. 

Medina says the recent arrests of Roderrick Norseweather and Tajahnae Johnson is an example of that. Police say they were trafficking teenage girls, and one of them was just 14. 

“And because traffickers, they target our most vulnerable populations, right? They target people who are maybe don’t have parents around, maybe don’t have parents at all, children in the foster care system, people who have been abused, people with drug problems,” said Shannon Lowry, executive director of Albuquerque SANE. 

The department is working with community partners like Albuquerque SANE and the Rape Crisis Center to help the victims of trafficking. The problem isn’t new, but the chief says the way APD is tackling it is.

“And it’s not like APD 20 years ago, where we had a VICE unit that their sole job was to take possible victims to jail,” Medina said.  

He says this effort is really just beginning.

“We currently only have two detectives assigned to this human trafficking unit,” said Medina. 

The chief says fully staffing the unit will be a struggle, but he’s committed to making it happen. He also says they’ll need help from the courts, and lawmakers to solve the problem because, in many cases, it’s tied to issues with drugs, mental health, and poverty.

“We have to get better at getting individuals and forcing them to the resources and the help that they need. And I’m not saying that we should violate people’s rights and just force them into treatment, but we should mandate that they get the help to overcome the issues,” Medina said. 

The chief says in this case, APD is committed to not just taking the easy way out.

“I could be a coward. I could tell George tomorrow, ‘George, you find me 12 officers go out and make a bunch of arrests,’ and we’ll make an announcement that we arrest 40 people and everybody will be like, ‘Wow, APD arrested 40 people.’ And you know what, time and time again, that solution works for us to please the public. This is about us doing the right thing,” said Medina.