January 9, 2023New analytics tools detect and disrupt sex trafficking activitiesGroundbreaking modeling detailed in new research in the INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics is being credited with helping lead to the arrest of dozens of suspects in human trafficking rings in Alabama."Our approach focuses on developing models to predict clusters of online sex ad data based on text and image content, distilling clustered data to identify networks that are active in a target location specified by users, filtering sex ads that are likely to correspond to spammers and advising law enforcement agents on interdiction efforts," says Nickolas Freeman of the University of Alabama, the lead author in the study.Once we identify a subset of suspect networks, we use the details provided in the portal to more closely investigate movement patterns, identify prominent sites that are being used by the associated individual(s), and identify key phrases, images, and phone numbers that are being used," says Burcu Keskin, also of the University of Alabama and a co-author on the study.Using these insights, the researchers assist in monitoring the target sites during operations to determine if any of the target individuals are working in the proximity of the area covered by the detail.Once a post matching the criteria for one of the suspect networks is observed, law enforcement agents attempt to set up an encounter."