Horry County again tops in SC for human trafficking reports: 2020 AG data
Horry County led the state for reports of human trafficking for the second consecutive year, according to the S.C. Attorney General’s latest report.
The state’s Human Trafficking Task Force on Monday released its 2020 report, which detailed 139 reports of human trafficking identifying 179 potential victims, both of which are down from the previous year.
Reports do not indicate cases, but rather calls made to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, so Horry having the most reports in the state does not necessarily mean the crime is being committed in the county more than anywhere else in South Carolina.
Horry County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Sherrie Smith, who co-chairs the local human trafficking task force, said last year that she sees the high number of reports in Horry County as a positive because it means the public has increased awareness.
“We tell people if they see something, say something, and they are,” she said after the 2019 report was published.
The report doesn’t specify the number of calls made in each county, but Horry County had 24 such reports, according to Kathryn Moorehead, coordinator of the statewide task force.
The other counties with the most reports included Charleston, Richland, Greenville and Anderson, according to the 2020 report.
The top venues for sex trafficking reports in the state were illicit massage/spa businesses, with 25 such reports last year. The Sun News previously detailed how these crimes were allegedly being committed at dozens of local massage parlors, most of which have since shut down after being targeted as nuisance businesses by the Horry County Solicitor’s Office.
The statewide task force noted in its report that the COVID-19 pandemic presented major challenges to its mission, including forcing meetings online and creating a barrier to aiding victims.
Moorehead noted that since the data is a year behind, the pandemic didn’t lead to the decline in reports, and she suspects they may see an increase in next year’s report, but she won’t know until December. She suggested the decline may be attributable to 2018 legislation that changed the definition of abuse and neglect so that the S.C. Department of Social Services could respond to reports of potential minor trafficking, meaning mandated reporters could reach out to DSS instead of the national hotline.
The task force also announced new partnerships with DSS and the state’s departments of Mental Health and Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services.
January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month, and anyone who suspects they’ve witnessed an instance of sex or labor trafficking is encouraged to call the national hotline at 1-888-373-7888.
This story was originally published January 11, 2021 at 11:50 AM.
