The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) celebrated the one-year anniversary of ‘Operation Lightshine”, a program uniting federal, state, and local agencies to fight human trafficking and child exploitation.
At a news conference on Wednesday in Fort Myers, they shared how cutting-edge technology is speeding up investigations. In its first year, FDLE says the SWFL Intercept Task Force opened more than 1,000 cases, arrested 63 offenders, and rescued more than 90 victims. Watch Community Correspondent Austin Schargorodski’s report here…
Florida’s ‘Operation Lightshine’ marks one-year with major wins against human trafficking and child exploitation
John Yancey, Resident Agent in Charge with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, says AI tools are helping investigators quickly sort through digital evidence like social media chats and cell phone data – cutting case times from weeks to days.
“You think of all the children who have cell phones now, and think of all the predators that also have that same access. That’s like letting a predator into your child’s bedroom,” said Yancey. “This type of case work has exploded since the explosion of the Internet in 2014. Almost every law enforcement agency is just buried and can’t keep up with the increase of this type of work. So, the concept of this task force is to get law enforcement the resources they need to combat these crimes.”…