Transit monitoring capacity expansion: Analytics for combating human trafficking

Human trafficking is a rising complex global problem, and effective anti-trafficking programs can address the problem through four objectives: prevention, prosecution, protection, and partnership, known as the 4Ps. The transportation industry plays a critical role in preventing and disrupting human trafficking. Research shows that transit points are crucial for recruiting and transporting victims of human trafficking between source and destination locations. Motivated by transit monitoring, a strategy that aims to identify and intercept potential human trafficking victims while they are in transit and before exploitation, this research demonstrates one of the first examples of transportation efforts to combat human trafficking. Through an academic and practitioner partnership, we develop field data-driven capacity expansion strategies for transit monitoring that integrates the 4Ps. This research utilizes a new multi-target metric to evaluate the impact of anti-trafficking operations, which amalgamates the prevention, protection, prosecution goals, and program cost. It also incorporates organizational factors to understand the success of potential interventions and demonstrates an early example of predictive analytics for combating human trafficking.