Brazos Valley Human Trafficking Task Force Development

Brazos Valley Human Trafficking Task Force Project Abstract

Task Force Name: Brazos Valley Human Trafficking Task Force (BVHTTF) 

Law Enforcement Applicant: Brazos County Sheriff's Office 

Funding Requested by Law Enforcement Applicant: $750,000.00 

Victim Service Provider Applicant: Unbound Global, carried out by Unbound Bryan College Station location

Funding Requested by Victim Service Provider Applicant: $750,000.00 

The Brazos Valley is a rapidly growing region directly located in the Texas Triangle, which links San Antonio, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Houston through major highways. The Texas Triangle is estimated to be an area where human trafficking is extremely prevalent. The anchoring cities of the region are Bryan and College Station. College Station houses the 2nd largest university in the country, Texas A&M. The nine county service area has a population of over 463,000 individuals without including the 71,000 students enrolled at Texas A&M. Brazos County is rapidly growing with a 1.4% growth rate compared to the national growth rate of only 0.1%. Brazos County has an extremely high poverty rate of 22.3%, which nearly doubles the national poverty rate of 11.4%. The location, high poverty rate, and high population growth rate have made human trafficking prevalent in the Brazos Valley and increase the need for a collaborative task force.

The Brazos Valley Human Trafficking Task Force will be a newly formed human trafficking task force focused on developing collaborative working relationships among local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, victim service providers, and a variety of other community partners in the Brazos Valley to address human trafficking. The Task Force's mission and goals are to: 1) identify victims of all types of human trafficking within the Brazos Valley, 2) develop an effective and sustainable multidisciplinary task force who proactively investigates and prosecutes sex and labor trafficking cases, 3) implement victim-centered approaches to address individualized needs of identified victims through comprehensive services. 

Listed below is statistical data from Brazos Valley law enforcement agencies and the lead victim service provider. The number of human trafficking cases investigated in the past three years: 2019 = 8, 2020 = 13, 2021 = 23. The number of human trafficking clients served by Unbound Bryan College Station in the past three years: 2019 = 8, 2020 = 18, 2021 = 40. The number of human trafficking related cases prosecuted in the past three years: 2019 = 2, 2020 = 2, 2021 = 4.