STOP Human Trafficking

The South Texas Officers and Prosecutors (STOP) Task Force Against Human Trafficking is a multi-agency collaboration with the San Antonio Police Department (SAPD) serving as the lead law enforcement agency and BCFS Health and Human Services Human Trafficking Interdiction (HTI) serving as the lead victim services agency. Tasked with increasing community identification of all forms of human trafficking, STOP will enhance all area partners’ capacity to effectively serve survivors. The program is funded by a federal Department of Justice grant under the Office for Victims of Crime and the Bureau of Justice Assistance.

The STOP Task Force has the additional goal of increasing offender arrests, prosecutions and convictions and will conduct training for law enforcement, victim service providers and the local community to increase education, awareness and identification of all forms of human trafficking. These forms include trafficking of both adults and children for purposes of sex and labor exploitation.

The STOP Task Force’s jurisdictional area is the Alamo Area Council of Governments 12 County Region, which includes the counties of Atascosa, Bandera, Bexar, Comal, Frio, Gillespie, Guadalupe, Karnes, Kendall, Kerr, Medina, and Wilson. The area includes San Antonio — the 7th largest city in the United States — a wide array of rural, suburban, agricultural, and military communities with pockets of both great poverty and significant wealth.