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Flanked at a ceremony by Lt. Gov Joe Kelly and the head of the Nebraska State Patrol, Attorney General Mike Hilgers exalted the work of law enforcement, lawmakers, nonprofit advocates and vigilant residents who, he said, have worked together to combat the transportation and coercion of victims of forced labor or sexual exploitation.

And Kelly, a former prosecutor, read a proclamation signed ahead of time by Gov. Jim Pillen declaring January 2024 as "Human Trafficking Awareness Month" in the state. Pillen issued a similar proclamation last year.Ìý

The ceremony — held on National Human Trafficking Awareness Day and attended by dozens of state senators, advocates and law enforcement officers — marked the state's latest effort to spotlight the issue, even as criminal prosecutions of alleged traffickers remain rare in Nebraska.

Thursday's ceremony coincided with released by Hilgers' office that showed there were nine sex trafficking defendants convicted of felonies in Nebraska in 2023. Their sentences "varied from probation to imprisonment," according to the report.Ìý

That sum is the lowest annual total since 2020. There were 11 sex trafficking defendants convicted of felonies in 2021 and another 13 statewide in 2022.

And the State Patrol's human trafficking hotline, launched in October 2022, received 98 calls last year, leading to 67 law enforcement tips and 21 police dispatches.

Tips from the hotline prompted law enforcement inquiries in parts of the state as far west as Morrill County and as far east as the Nebraska-Iowa border, "some of which have already led to investigations and prosecutions," according to the report.

"People think it happens only in Omaha, it happens only in Lincoln, it happens only in the big cities," Hilgers said. "It happens everywhere. No matter what the community is in the state of Nebraska, it will touch those places. So we have to open our eyes to everything around the state."

Col. John Bolduc, who leads the State Patrol, said there "have been very high profile cases" in rural communities, where he said traffickers seem to have "some notion that they're immune from detection."

"It's really happening in very rural communities just as well as it's happening in the population centers," Bolduc said.

Among Hilgers' top legislative priorities this year is a bill introduced by Sen. Christy Armendariz of Omaha that would allow Hilgers' office to pursue legal action against internet content providers when those websites allow depiction of seemingly non-consensual sex to be shared on or distributed through their websites.

Hilgers has said the first-of-its-kind proposal (LB1096) will give his office another tool to combat human trafficking. At Thursday's ceremony, he called it "maybe one of the most consequential bills that we can bring to help victims in Nebraska, but also around the country." 

The proposed legislation would be the latest in a series of new laws in Nebraska meant to help authorities fight trafficking.

The Legislature has twice raised criminal penalties for traffickers in the last decade and in 2016 immunized trafficking victims from prostitution charges, among other changes to state law outlined in Hilgers' office's report.

Nebraska's Human Trafficking Hotline, where the public can report suspected sex or labor trafficking, can be reached 24 hours per day at 833-PLS-LOOK (833-757-5665).