Spotlight helps officers identify child sex-trafficking ads much faster than the old paper-and-pencil methods., Brooke Istook, Director of Strategy and Operations, Thorn. Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues. endobj Our web-based tool is now used by over 5,000 officers in all 50 states and Canada. endstream The exact details of how the software works have been protected by Thorn, in the hearing Kutcher was careful to not go in depth in the interest of making it harder for traffickers to potentially evade the software. We believe that technology is a tool, one we can use for incredible good. My goal was to not only design a workshop that increased adoption but to build a tool that added value for current users through an intuitive user experience and user interface - which would then translate to more victims identified in a shorter amount of time. Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? We found that sixty-three percent of underage sex trafficking victims reported they had been bought or sold online. Thorn has worked tirelessly to improve three areas of child safety, finding abused children faster, deterring predators, and creating hostile online environments. We work with the sharpest minds from tech, non-profit, government and law enforcement to stop the spread of child sexual abuse material, stand up to child traffickers and uncover new kinds of abuse. Our tools are currently used by over 8,000 law enforcement officers in 37 countries, resulting in the identification of 10,000+ child sex trafficking victims and 847+ victims of child sexual abuse material. endobj Spotlight is a robust search tool that uses machine learning to help law enforcement identify victims of trafficking online. 2016-MU-BX-K005 awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. How does this organization measure their results? Have you recently published a useful resource? Build relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. While learning the ins and outs of Spotlight, and shipping features from our product backlog, I began to focus on ways to improve our on-boarding process for increased acquisition and adoption. We depend on the anti-trafficking community to keep our resource hub up to date. To build the world we believe in, we know we must: 1) Accelerate Victim Identification 2) Make Digital Environments Safer and 3) Deter Predatory Behavior. $15/mo. Leadership Spotlight: Leading with the Pen - The Handwritten Note. The organization collaborates with law enforcement agencies, tech companies, and nonprofits. | Photos Copyright Kay Chernush, ArtWorks for Freedom. Expanded partnerships with law enforcement. There are many things you can do right now to get started in your community to support local survivor organizations.". Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress. Spotlight takes this massive amount of data and turns it into an asset for law enforcement. Kutcher elaborate on the software during the hearing, Its a tool that can be used by law enforcement to prioritize their caseload. 2023, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. Due to the sensitivity of the product itself, I will not be using this case study to highlight the product design or development of Spotlight, the tool. Earlier in her career she worked for Motorolas mobile phone division and helped launch HELIO, a mobile virtual network operator. Share it with us and well add it to the database! Based on IRS CI's FY 2021 Annual Report, here are five top enforcement priorities that are likely to carry over into 2022: 1. endstream Thorn builds technology to defend children from sexual abuse. To design the curriculum for Spotlight Lab, I conducted preliminary research. is the CEO of Thorn and has helped grow the organization from inception in 2012. Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. For this phase of the project, I used the data I already gathered from Spotlight users to create a journey for those seeking to learn more about Spotlight, request a demo, request access, and to log in. It went from beta in Summer 2014, to extended beta in Fall 2014, to a national roll-out in Winter 2015. We build products and tools, partnerships and communities, that support and accelerate the impact and intentions of many people who are dedicated to defending children from sexual abuse. Our work has three pillars and one guiding vision. 1 0 obj Email or Username. GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader Spotlight is a robust search tool that uses machine learning to help law enforcement identify victims of trafficking online. After I completed this phase of research, I used the information to iterate on the workshop design, and improve the overall usability of Spotlight. Used by law enforcement in all 50 states and Canada, Spotlight has assisted in over 25,000 cases in 2019 alone and has helped to identify nearly 5,500 child sex trafficking victims and nearly 6,500 child sex traffickers. All rights reserved. However, the following six districts We reached out to her for more information about Spotlight. Leadership Spotlight: Leading At-Risk Employees - Law Enforcement and the Addiction Crisis. stream x Om7 ' With only a 25% average response rate, were confident these numbers represent the low end of our impact. <> This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. User research through interviews, personas, and journey mapping of proactive and reactive searches had already been done prior to my start date. But Thorn stays positive in the midst of engaging directly with such data. Since 2016 alone, Spotlight has helped officers in the United States and Canada open more than 21,000 trafficking cases and identify about 18,000 victims, including more than 6,000 children. 2016-2022 National Policing Institute -Privacy Policy-Documents in PDF format require Adobe Acrobat Reader, Spotlight A Tool to Improve Sex Trafficking Investigations, Documents in PDF format require Adobe Acrobat Reader. endobj Its not uncommon for celebrities to act on a social or political issue theyre passionate about. I also conducted guerrilla usability testing to learn about the major pain points of the product itself. Kelbi Ervin, Development Associate at Thorn, works with a team to develop partnerships and identify funding opportunities to sustain Thorn's work. I was given the goal of on-boarding 250 users in the next six months. Register. The organization collaborates with law enforcement agencies, tech companies, and nonprofits. 4 0 obj Problems of scale like this cry out for automated processes, but another big obstacle is the fact that escort ad data is anything but consistent: traffickers use code words, slang, and reused content to complicate detection by machines. At Dressember, we release a line of dresses each year, but those products are sold. Somewhere in that pile of data are children who are bought and sold online for sex. I cant begin to tell you how appreciative myself and the victim's families are that we have people that support a worthy cause such as this. % More From Thorn About the Spotlight Technology. 2021 Dressember | Dressember is a 501 (C)(3) | design by anne agency + marrow design, Grant Partners, Dressember2018, human trafficking, modern day slavery, child advocacy, buisnesses ending slavery and trafficking, BEST, Danyella Wilder. Research programs to better understand the role of technology in child sex trafficking. stream Spotlight has been used in 21,044 cases identifying 12,328 adults, 5,791 children, and 6,553 traffickers in the past two years. The organization's co-leader identifies as: Already have a GuideStar Account? Hear more from investigators using Spotlight on the front lines. The Law Enforcement Family. Spotlight, a tool developed by Thorn, is a web-based platform that assists law enforcement in identifying sex trafficking victims faster. Our products would not be successful without the partnership we receive from the law enforcement users in every state, at every level of government, and in 37 other countries who use our products, give us feedback, and work tirelessly to identify children. Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Initially, they had about 100 users from three U.S. states who were using Spotlight for their human-trafficking investigations. Most locations in the United States are updated every six hours. All Rights Reserved, thorn.org, launched Spotlight nationwide in October 2014, Spotlight assisted in the identification of 1,980 children and over 2,186 traffickers. Output - describing our activities and reach. Thorn Helps Law Enforcement Identify Child Sex-Trafficking Victims Faster on AWS. In 2013, we published the first version of The Thorn Sound Practices Guide, which educates companies about proven practices, tools and resources that exist to identify, remove, report and prevent child sexual abuse material and abusive behavior on their platforms. All Rights Reserved. Identifying the best product and UX design to onboard users, so that Spotlight could become the leading machine learning tool for human trafficking investigators. We can use this tool to gather intelligence and plot trends prior to conducting an operation, during the operation we can allocate resources effectively and tighten our investigative vision to have the greatest immediate impact, and following this operation we can couple Spotlight with information gathered in interviews to develop a more complete picture of the scope of Human Trafficking in our area.. From what I gathered, Spotlight was by far the most intuitive and robust, providing a better user experience, despite having a ways to go itself. Candid has made improvements to the race and ethnicity options. <> "Day to day, we strive to balance hard work with care for ourselves and each other so that we have the resiliency we need to keep fighting," Kelbi writes, "At Thorn, we are invested in a team wellness plan where we carve out time to discuss how were feeling and how were approaching our work. I was given the goal of on-boarding 250 users in the next six months. So when I came on, I got caught up to speed by reviewing that material, along with learning the product inside out by receiving, and then conducting, Spotlight demos and online trainings. 6 0 obj I get results fast allowing me to to gather important evidence and information in minutes compared to hours., Spotlight is a force multiplier at every stage of the operation. $10/mo. 9 0 obj Building is a core value that informs every strategy in our organization. endobj Be a part of the impact for our local and global partners by creating your campaign page today! With the approval of the Thorn CEO, I led the design of a Spotlight product website and managed our vendors, Media Cause and Digital Reasoning - who were in charge of graphic design and engineering development. $120/yr. My background in law enforcement and anti-human trafficking was well suited for the needs of Spotlight when I first joined the team. Need the ability to download nonprofit data and more advanced search options? 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