TraffickCam, which was created in 2015, is a mobile app that allows photos to be directly downloaded to the FBI server to help law enforcement identify victims, survivors, missing persons and offenders.

The regional task force is the first in the country to catalog hotels and motels on TraffickCam for an entire county. Knauf, the founder and director of the task force, said the idea was to have Berrien County pave the way in helping make the area safer for tourism and provide assistance on a larger level for rescue.

“I had seen the information about TraffickCam when I was visiting my dad in Texas,” Knauf said. “I took the floor pictures and it was easy. The task force’s thinking is it helps the tourists feel as safe as they can, it’s another insurance policy to show we’ve done everything possible to combat trafficking in the area. Hopefully, it will send a message to predators and traffickers that you’re not welcome here.”

Traffickers regularly post photographs of their victims posed in hotel rooms for online advertisements, Knauf said. These photographs are evidence that can be used to find and prosecute traffickers.

However, in order to use these photos investigators must be able to determine where the photos were taken.

The purpose of TraffickCam is to create a database of hotel room images that an investigator can search, in order to find other images that were taken in the same location as an image that is part of an investigation.

It was on the plane flight home from Texas when Knauf thought about reaching out to Berrien County hotels. What Knauf thought would be a two- or three-week effort, turned into months worth of work.

After reaching out to TraffickCam, Knauf and other task force members kept finding more hotels and motels within the county to get involved in the project.

With about a 90 percent participation rate, the task force convinced more than 30 hotels, inns and motels in Benton Harbor, New Buffalo, Niles, Sawyer, St. Joseph and Stevensville to help combat sex trafficking.

Knauf said they’ve officially visited each hotel on the list. At each establishment, Knauf and her members take four photos in two different sized rooms. She offered her thanks to each hotel and motel that offered to take part in the effort.

“It cost them nothing but 10 minutes,” Knauf said. “This will be a helpful tool for the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. Why wait until 30 individuals take photos at the hotels? It sends a bigger message by doing them all at one time.”

The task force’s work fighting sex trafficking now attributes to the downloadable 2.8 million pictures of hospitality properties that have been taken so far in the country.

If additional counties choose to participate in this project, Knauf said the number of photos taken and uploaded could make a difference on limiting victims from being advertised for sex.

The end result anticipated is to create a safer community, she said.

“We hope all travelers and citizens will decide to join this public project in uploading their hospitality photos,” Knauf said. “These proactive photos could likely provide help that law enforcement require to quickly rescue these victims.”

For more information about TraffickCam, visit swmihumantrafficking.org. Anyone who wants to report a case of sex trafficking can call the hotline at 1-888-373-7888.