The Missoula Human Trafficking Task Force aims to end human trafficking through education, awareness, and the collaboration with local, state, and federal resources and community partners.

Members include law enforcement agencies, hospitals, Missoula Public Health, Partnership Health Center, the FBI and other governmental and non-governmental organizations.

Any person under age 18 who performs a commercial sex act is considered a victim of human trafficking, regardless of whether force, fraud, or coercion was present. Human trafficking is a multi-billion dollar industry second only to drug trafficking in annual profit. U.S. State Department estimates that 14,500 to 17,500 people are brought into the United States each year for labor or sexual exploitation.

Human trafficking is often confused with human smuggling, which is the illegal movement of people across borders. Human trafficking does not necessarily involve the movement of people.

Human trafficking is a crime that is “hidden in plain sight.” It can happen anywhere. For example, sex trafficking may occur in hotels, motels, residential brothels, private homes, truck stops, massage parlors, and even on the street. Labor trafficking happens in hotels, motels, restaurants, casinos, hair and nail salons, private homes, construction sites, and factories.