Dallas Police Department leaders briefed the Public Safety Committee on Jan. 14 about the department’s adult and juvenile human‑trafficking units, recent recoveries and partnerships with nonprofit and federal partners.

Major Yancey Nelson, who presented the overview alongside Lieutenant Ashley Lee, said adult human trafficking investigations are handled by the adult human‑trafficking squad in the special investigations division, while juvenile trafficking investigations are handled by the high‑risk victims and trafficking squad in the special victims division.

The department reported a marked increase in activity and recoveries. For juveniles, the presentation said DPD recovered 117 victims in 2024 and made 80 arrests tied to those recoveries. “This is definitely a problem that we cannot arrest ourselves out of,” Major Nelson said, arguing that investigations must be paired with services and prevention.

Juvenile outreach and operations: Lieutenant Ashley Lee said the department conducted 379 presentations in the community with more than 15,000 attendees in recent years; the juvenile operations include online undercover work, stings and proactive field operations to identify and recover high‑risk minors. The juvenile definition used in the briefing: anyone under 18 compelled to engage in prostitution, with “high‑risk” juveniles defined by criteria such as multiple missing‑person episodes or four or more incidents in 12 months.

Partnerships and services: DPD stressed a victim‑centered approach for adults and juveniles, with a caseworker assigned to connect survivors to vetted nonprofit partners including Traffic 911, New Friends New Life, Refugee City, Deliver Fund and Collective Liberty. The department highlighted the mayor’s Domestic Violence and Human Trafficking Advisory Council and named state and federal partners — Texas Attorney General’s Office, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), DPS, Houston PD and the FBI — as investigative collaborators.

Data, training and next steps: The department described a public human‑trafficking dashboard that shares metrics publicly and said adult human‑trafficking squad operations began in April 2023. Officials said they are developing a Dallas‑specific human‑trafficking class for DPD officers, researching juvenile and adult grant funding, and discussing possible revival of a past prostitution‑diversion initiative.

Committee questions and follow‑up: Council members asked whether the increase in recoveries reflected more trafficking or improved detection; department staff said increased operations, community tip lines and outreach likely contributed to higher recoveries. Members also discussed the role of data analytics and open‑source tools used by nonprofit analysts to augment investigations and asked for coordination with legislative priorities ahead of the state session.

Ending: Council members praised the department and its nonprofit partners for the work and asked DPD to continue increasing officer training, strengthening victim services and coordinating legislative priorities with community partners.