Human trafficking is reaching epidemic proportions in Florida, a retired DEA agent claims. But is it?

“I can’t tell you what a major problem it is in this state,” said Tony Attanasio, a retired U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent who created a human trafficking course for law enforcement. “It’s just an unbelievable problem.”

Attanasio, like many others in the human trafficking field, can’t cite actual numbers to prove his assertion.  Still, a spate of trafficking related cases in recent months throughout Florida certainly leaves the impression that the Sunshine State is seeing more than its share of this global crime.

And no wonder.  Geographically, Florida has long been an entry point to the United States for thousands of immigrants — most of them legal, some not — from Central and South America.  For the same reason, police say Florida is a major distribution hub in the worldwide illicit drug trade.  Smuggled aliens also have been found working the fields of the state’s huge agricultural industry.

But whether trafficking is an epidemic in Florida may be stretching things a bit — at least or until more precise data on trafficking crimes is available.  For now, observers and counter-trafficking advocates use a U.S. State Department statistic that 14,500 to 17,500 people are trafficked into the U.S. annually.  In a state with 16 million people, such a number — even if every individual were trafficked into Florida (an absurd calculation),  would constitute no more than a trickle.

All of which reinforces the argument that before progress can be made in attacking human trafficking, law enforcement first needs to have a clear idea about the nature and extent of this very real — but difficult to identify — crime.