Smyrna Police Department receives a $10,000 grant to help combat human trafficking.
The grant comes from Operation Underground Railroad, an international non-profit organization which works with law enforcement agencies. The award will go towards the purchase of cell phone extraction technology to help authorities gather evidence in cases of human trafficking and child sexual abuse materials.
In addition to the technology itself, one of Smyrna’s police officers with experience in those cases will receive training and certification on the new tools.
“This is doing cell phone dumps, child pornography, sex crimes, anti-trafficking," explains Smyrna police chief Brian Donner. "It's a very specialized thing that 10 years ago, he spearheaded under previous chiefs that sent him for tons and tons of training and technology, and it was very expensive.”
Donner adds the grant funding is crucial as the department tries to keep up with rapidly-changing technology.
“It's an expensive world," he says. "Technology is constantly evolving, the best of the best is super expensive, and we all know we're trying to run the tightest budgets we can. We have not been employing the newest, latest, and greatest technology because of the cost. This grant will allow us to do that now.”
Donner made the announcement at a Mayor and Council meeting last week.
In 2024, state authorities identified 65 cases of possible juvenile trafficking and 49 suspects across Delaware, including 30 in New Castle County and 14 in Kent County. The majority of those cases involved sex trafficking.
