September 18, 2025 by University of Sheffield
Collected at: https://techxplore.com/news/2025-09-digital-tool-police-potential-victims.html
A new analytical tool that helps identify potential victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation is helping police forces across the UK work to get justice for victims.
The Sexual Trafficking Identification Matrix (STIM) is used to assess adverts posted online for risks that suggest the people involved may be victims of human trafficking or sexual exploitation.
Developed by Dr. Xavier L’Hoiry from the University of Sheffield, in collaboration with global partners, STIM is already proving to be vital for organizations like the Thames Valley Police, in its work to proactively identify and protect individuals at the greatest risk of exploitation.
A major obstacle to this work is distinguishing between profiles created by non-trafficked sex workers and those posted by traffickers, as it’s difficult to tell a legitimate profile from a false one.
STIM works by assessing adult service website adverts by analyzing elements like the photographs, language and details used to produce a rating to decide whether the advert is low, medium or high risk. This can then be used by practitioners to decide whether to dedicate additional resources for investigations, or support for potential victims.
Dr. L’Hoiry, from the University of Sheffield’s School of Sociological Studies, Politics and International Relations, worked with various national and international partners to develop the tool, including the Universities of Northumbria and Copenhagen, law enforcement, charities and NGOs—including The Danish Centre against Human Trafficking (CMM) which works to identify and support victims of human trafficking.
He said, “In the digital age, the use of some adult service websites by criminals presents a growing challenge in the battle against human trafficking and there is growing evidence that traffickers are using them to reach a larger customer base and operate with less risk of being caught by law enforcement.
“By developing a tool like STIM, we wanted to help those working to tackle human trafficking to be more efficient in their efforts to reach out to those vulnerable to sexual exploitation. Previously organizations would need to look through thousands of adverts online manually, which can take a massive toll on those doing the work. The STIM still relies on human intervention but it aims to make the risk assessment process much quicker and straight-forward for those involved.”
STIM has so far been adopted by 16 police forces and two charities in the UK, four police forces abroad, and the Danish Centre Against Human Trafficking in Denmark (CMM). Thames Valley Police have been the force leading the way in its implementation in the UK.
Ben Henley, a Detective Chief Inspector who has been leading the STIM project with Thames Valley Police said, “One of the main challenges we had was that we were reliant on victims coming forward, which was unfortunately very rare. So the STIM has been really beneficial for us. It has helped us identify those at greatest risk and set timeframes on how quickly we action those.
“We’ve utilized the STIM to score over 128 online adverts, and this has resulted in 40 visits being conducted at locations, with dozens of individuals safeguarded. We currently have five live criminal investigations and there have been multiple arrests as a result of utilizing the STIM. Other forces have made contact with me and I’ve provided briefings to them so they can replicate our model. It has also been identified as national best practice and as a result, other forces have been encouraged to follow our utilization of the STIM.”
Dr. L’Hoiry and colleagues from Northumbria and Copenhagen are continuing to update and improve on STIM based on the feedback of the partners using it and offering training and supporting its roll-out in police forces and other organizations, with so far 30 sessions delivered to over 100 police representatives.
He added, “STIM has already delivered many benefits to users, taking our research beyond the walls of the university to connect with the organizations making a difference for potential victims. Our ambition is that every police force in the UK, and charities and organizations in the third sector, here and worldwide, adopt the use of the STIM tool to help assist their work in identifying victims of human trafficking and developing meaningful interventions to support them.”
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