Bobbies on a new beat battle human trafficking

IN a central England suburb, police accustomed to burglaries and household disturbances are breaking new ground by finding ways to battle the latest crime wave – human trafficking.

Sergeant Alex Sobolewski, of the West Midlands Police, said a large part of his work now concerned people trafficking, a crime barely discussed five years ago.

With an estimated 46 million people globally living in slavery, human trafficking is being taken increasingly seriously in all countries, with Britain home to an estimated 13 000 slaves and authorities identifying about 3 260 people as victims last year.

Modern slavery has become a catch-all term to describe human trafficking, forced labour, debt bondage, sex trafficking, forced marriage and other slave-like exploitation.

Polish-born Sobolewski, who moved to the UK aged six, said the West Midlands police were having to find new ways to stop traffickers exploiting vulnerable people from Poland and Romania as cheap labour.

Identifying victims was the first challenge, as often these people did not realise they were being abused, and then it was critical to find means to stop the traffickers.

“These will be perhaps people with an alcohol dependency. “Certainly unemployed. “They target homeless people, people who don’t have great prospects in life,” Sobolewski said. “They bring these people over. “I suppose that’s why some don’t see themselves as victims.

“They’ll see that the life over here, however hard and bad it is, is better than it is in Poland.”

Of the people identified as victims of modern slavery in Britain last year, 139 were Polish nationals brought over for labour exploitation.

West Midlands Police are investigating 70 claims of human trafficking from Poland.

According to Britain’s 2011 Census, more than 52 000 people from Poland were living in the West Midlands.

In the region, Sobolewski said workers were in demand in factories of all kinds and recycling plants.

Sobolewski, a keen triathlete who is clearly protective and keen to help his Polish compatriots, said: “Often, the employers aren’t aware that these people are being exploited.”

Britain has taken a lead internationally in trying to crack down on human trafficking, last year introducing the Modern Slavery Act, hailed as a milestone for combining harsh penalties with progressive measures like better protections for people at risk of being enslaved. – Reuters

They target homeless people, people who really don’t have great prospects in life