The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation says the state is ranked ninth in the U.S. for the volume of human trafficking cases. Neighboring Charlotte is considered a hotspot for activity, and that puts Cabarrus at a much higher risk for incidents to occur, according to Cabarrus County Sheriff Van Shaw.
January is National Human Trafficking Prevention month, and Shaw hopes a recently awarded $1 million state grant will help combat the problem locally. The grant will create two full-time positions to be filled by experienced investigators familiar with human trafficking and child exploitation cases.
“We want to have an impact on child exploitation and make sure it doesn’t bleed over into human trafficking,” said Shaw. “We’ll also be looking over the other elements of human trafficking as they get reported and investigated.”
Instances of human trafficking aren’t typically like what people see in movies and television, the sheriff said.