Sarasota human trafficking diversion program looking to expand
SARASOTA -- Drug court is a well-known diversion program where people suffering from addiction and charged with crimes can turn to for treatment rather than serving jail time.
The Turn Your Life Around program is less well known though extremely similar.
Instead of drug crimes, TYLA focuses on human trafficking and prostitution.
"The old approach was going out there and doing prostitution stings and making prostitution arrests. Now we know we can't arrest our way out of the problem," said Sarasota Police Department Sgt. Demetri Konstantopoulos with the Street Crimes Unit. "We know that they're victims and that many of them have been victimized their whole life."
TYLA is the brainchild of Kinsey Neeson, director of outreach and law enforcement liaison for Selah Freedom, a nonprofit dedicated to helping victims of human
trafficking with a home in East Manatee. It allows those facing prostitution charges to seek help and have charges dropped rather than serve jail time.
It is only available in Sarasota, but after wide success since the program's launch in 2013, other counties are looking into it. Selah Freedom is now training all Sarasota Police Department officers to identify human trafficking and TYLA works.
"Most law enforcement agencies have a narcotics unit, and they should, because it's a $35-billion-per-year industry," Neeson said. "But human trafficking is a $32-billion industry, and most don't have anything for that. We need more focus on it."
Ed Brodsky, state attorney for the 12th Judicial Circuit, which includes Manatee and Sarasota counties, said TYLA is a great program but there haven't been official talks about expansion into Manatee County. He said many charged with prostitution crimes can seek help and treatment through drug court, but Manatee has no official court program addressing human trafficking victims.
"I don't believe there's a lot of extra expenditures associated with it," Brodsky said. "I think this could be implemented and the county would definitely benefit."
Brodsky said local law enforcement leaders would have to meet to officially discuss implementation of the program, and no such meeting has taken place.
"Is it something that we could expand on? Absolutely," Brodsky said.
Konstantopoulos said training by Selah Freedom was the first time in 17 years of law enforcement he'd seen training specific to human trafficking. Neeson said they're hosting training on the TYLA program for 17 Florida counties in Polk County in May.
Manatee County Sheriff Brad Steube said he was unfamiliar with the program and hadn't heard of any expansion plans, though Selah Freedom has been coming to the jail to work with female inmates for the past two months.
Since the program began in 2013, Neeson said 30 individuals have gone through it. Those facing prostitution charges meet with a case manager, who develops a personalized treatment plan for them. Treatments could include mandatory participation in counseling, drug rehabilitation and residential programs. When people complete the program their charges are dropped.
Konstantopoulos said TYLA is a much better way of lowering recidivism among those charged with prostitution rather than jail time.
"I've seen women who had drug problems for 10 years, that we saw in and out all the time, turn their lives around," he said. "I was skeptical at first, but I believe in it now because I've seen the results. I'd absolutely recommend the program," Konstantopoulos said. "Honestly, it's probably cheaper to go this route than continuing to prosecute people."
Kate Irby, online/political reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7055 or at kirby@bradenton.com. Follow her on Twitter @KateIrby.
This story was originally published March 19, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Sarasota human trafficking diversion program looking to expand ."