Carpinteria proclaims January 2025 Human Trafficking Awareness Month; county DA office outlines local case counts

The Carpinteria City Council unanimously approved a proclamation designating January 2025 as Human Trafficking Awareness Month, calling attention to local and state efforts to prevent trafficking and connect survivors to services.

The proclamation notes that human trafficking occurs in every state, cites national prevalence estimates and references the Santa Barbara County Human Trafficking Task Force’s role in investigations and prosecutions. Vice Mayor Monica Solorzano moved the proclamation and the council adopted it by voice vote.

Tiffany Carty, victim‑witness program supervisor with the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office, told the council that from January 2017 through December 2023 county investigators opened 269 human‑trafficking investigations and identified 235 survivors. Carty said 40% of those survivors were county residents and about 25% were children; another 31% were adults ages 18 to 24. She said more than 90% of local cases involved sex trafficking, and the task force is expanding efforts to identify labor‑trafficking survivors.

Carty described risk factors she said have grown since the COVID‑19 pandemic, including loss of income, rising housing costs and increased online exposure of youth to predators. She urged residents and local organizations to request prevention training and public outreach; she also promoted an in‑person vigil for freedom planned for Wednesday, Jan. 29 at 5:30 p.m. in De la Guerra Plaza.

The proclamation language included references to the county task force and asked Carpinteria residents to recognize the month and the role of local responders and advocates in preventing and reporting trafficking.

The council did not take further action beyond approving the proclamation; the DA’s office offered training and community events to follow.