Collaborating with Local and Federal Law Enforcement for Disrupting Sex Trafficking Networks
Human trafficking refers to the transportation, harboring, or obtaining of persons through force, fraud, and coercion for the purpose of exploitation. Every year, millions of individuals spanning all ages, races, genders, and nationalities are victims of human trafficking across the globe. Sex trafficking, a form of human trafficking that involves sexual exploitation, has been facilitated through the use of online classified advertisements. Our team has been collaborating with law enforcement agencies at the local, state, and national levels since May 2019 to detect and disrupt sex trafficking activities identified by applying advanced analytics to ad data collected from the internet. Using the developed tool, our team has assisted several operations, which have led to more than forty arrests in Tuscaloosa, AL, since February 2021. The research team continues to work with law enforcement partners in Tuscaloosa, AL, Birmingham, AL, and Long Island, NY.
The Culverhouse College of Business, The University of Alabama
BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Gregory J. Bott holds the Marillyn Hewson Chair Professor of Cybersecurity in the ISM Department at the University of Alabama and is a Cyber Nexus Distinguished Fellow. Dr. Bott serves as Director of the UA Cybersecurity Clinic, Co-Director of the UA Cyber Security Summer Camp, and Assistant Director of the Institute of Data Analytics (Cybersecurity initiative). His research focuses on cybersecurity, cybercrime (sex trafficking), and information privacy. He has published in Productions and Operations Management, the Journal for Management Information Systems, the Journal of Interactive Marketing, the INFORMS Journal of Applied Analytics, Computers and Security, and Communications of the AIS, and several academic conferences. His research on sex trafficking has been directly applied by the West Alabama Human Trafficking task force, Homeland Security, Birmingham PD, Tuscaloosa PD, and the East Alabama Human Trafficking Task Force to help locate victims of sex trafficking and capture sex offenders who target minors. Dr. Bott is a certified digital forensic examiner, holds the Certified Information Systems Security Professional certification, and serves as an expert witness in civil and criminal cases. Previously, Bott worked in technology for PwC, Microsoft Corporation, and served as chief technology officer for three organizations.
Nickolas Freeman
Associate Professor of Operations Management
The Culverhouse College of Business, The University of Alabama
BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Nickolas K. Freeman is an Associate Professor of Operations Management in the ISM Department. Dr. Freeman serves as an Assistant Director of the Institute of Data and Analytics at UA. In this role, Dr. Freeman serves as a director of the STANDD initiative that focuses on the development of advanced analytics techniques for combatting sex trafficking. Dr. Freeman also serves as a co-coordinator of the University of Alabama’s Master of Science in Business Analytics and is an Associate Editor of INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics. He has published articles on a wide range of topics in top Operations Management Journals including Production and Operations Management, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics, Omega, the European Journal on Operational Research, the International Journal of Production Research, and the International Journal of Production Economics.
Burcu Keskin
Professor of Operations Management
The Culverhouse College of Business, The University of Alabama
BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Burcu B. Keskin is a professor of Operations Management (OM) and the associate department head for the Department of Information Systems, Statistics, and Management Science at The University of Alabama. She earned her Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from Texas A&M University. She has conducted research in different areas of supply chain management including inventory theory, facility location, network design, and vehicle routing. She has obtained funding for her research through government agencies grants and several companies. Her papers have been selected as finalists of the Daniel H. Wagner Prize for Operations Research Excellence in Practice three times (2009; 2014; 2021). Dr. Keskin serves as area editor for the Supply Chain Management area of OMEGA: The International Journal of Management Science. She also serves on the editorial boards of International Journal of Production Economics, Computers and Operations Research, and INFORMS Journal of Applied Analytics. She is also an ad-hoc reviewer for numerous journals. She is the recipient of the 2014 Culverhouse Board of Visitors Teaching Award.
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