Benjamin Thomas Greer (Law ’08) is an overachiever by anyone’s definition. He has been an Emergency Management Coordinator/Instructor II with the California Office of Emergency Services, Homeland Security/Human Trafficking training division since 2017. In addition to his law degree, he graduated from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security master’s program in 2022.
Only 30 students are chosen for each USDHS master’s program. Benjamin’s cohort included coast guardians, a Judge Advocate General (JAG), special FBI agents for cyber security, and border patrol agents, among others. His thesis, Connecting the Dots of an Opaque Crime: Analyzing California’s Human Trafficking Task Force Information Sharing Framework and Practices was nominated for the outstanding thesis award.
Benjamin’s career also includes several presentations/guest lectures (59 both domestic and international), training sessions (26 domestic and international), published articles, reports, and papers (33), and book chapters (6). At the core of it all is his focus on the fight against human trafficking. The duties of his current position revolve around the design and delivery of international and domestic training in counter terrorism and trafficking.
For Benjamin, the interest in law was sparked by an assignment in community college. His professor suggested he think about law school. While working as a research attorney for the California District Attorneys Association (CDAA) human trafficking became newly categorized as a felony. This became a focal point for his future work. As a multi-dimensional threat, human trafficking not only deprives people of their human rights and freedoms, it also promotes societal breakdown, puts global health at risk, inhibits geographical development, and fuels organized crime. (CIA.gov, 2023)
With his interest piqued in 2009, Bejamin began researching and writing law review articles on the subject. “The [human trafficking legal response framework] laws needed modifications,” he said. “I started to see some success in finding publication in law schools and international universities. I was invited to lecture in more than 10 countries and about 30 universities.”
As evidenced by how big a problem human trafficking has become, Benjamin is constantly in demand as a speaker and trainer across the globe. This begs the question, what is driving the demand? What has caused the rapid growth of human trafficking and exploitation in our supposedly modern world? “It’s [often referred to as] the modern version of slavery”, Benjamin says. And it has grown because of our worsening social and environmental ills. Even with legislatures and law enforcement battling this scourge, it continues to spread and pose asymmetric threats worldwide.
Between 2008 and 2019, the number of human trafficking victims throughout the world more than quadrupled. (Statista, 2023) True figures are likely even greater, due to the hidden and shadowy nature of the crime.
“It’s all about vulnerability,” Benjamin says. “If vulnerability is present, there will be someone who wants to exploit it. Immigrants lacking a family nucleus are vulnerable, as are those who don’t easily find their place in society. An absence in the hierarchy of needs: shelter, food, and resources, invite vulnerability. The criminal element will always try to exploit these situations”.
Additionally, natural, and man-made disasters like destructive weather, war, fires, the mental health crisis, poverty, homelessness, and the like, contribute to the growth of human trafficking and exploitation. Post hurricane Katrina in 2005 brought attention to the situation when forced and exploited labor was tapped to rebuild after the storm. Once the connection between crisis and exploitation was made, experts like Benjamin could refine and refocus their efforts.
The plight of children orphaned by natural disasters is a tragic form of collateral damage. They are extremely vulnerable during the aftermath of any type of devastation, like that of multiple Haitian earthquakes over the past decade. In the international adoption market, orphaned children become commodities with a price tag of around $40,000. So-called “rescue adoptions” sometimes turn out to be a front for human trafficking - compounding tragedy.
In his role as an educator and trainer of emergency managers and law enforcement, Benjamin focuses on the skills needed to identify the dynamics of trafficking. One class he teaches involves the effect severe forms of trauma have on the brain. How trauma can transform a trafficked victim’s brain neuroplasticity, which in turn can cause victims to give inconsistent accounts of their story. Teaching trauma-informed care helps law enforcement and emergency managers have proper perspective when identifying and working with trafficking victims.
The International Labor Organization (ILO), a sub-agency of the United Nations, estimates that worldwide, there were 27.6 million victims of human trafficking in 2022. While the number of human trafficking victims increased last year, convictions of traffickers globally, has dropped since the years prior to COVID.
But the outlook, Benjamin says, is not all doom and gloom. California is known for developing and implementing best practices in the anti-trafficking field. He relayed a story about a Polish professor he met once in pub in Scottland. The professor asked about pending legislation he knew of in California. “People are aware of what California is doing because we are having a positive impact,” Benjamin said.
In 2015, Benjamin had the opportunity to travel to and train the Trinidad and Tobago Counter-trafficking Unit (CTU). While there, the CTU received a tip of a suspected residential brothel. The CTU and the Trinidad crown prosecutor sought his advice on the drafting of the search warrants and the collection of evidence at the scene. Benjamin recently received word that the case led to Trinidad’s first national conviction under their anti-trafficking laws.
Benjamin says that law school provided the space and oxygen that allowed his creativity and analytical skills to flourish.
Trafficking in Persons. 2023. The World Fact Book. Retrieved from: Trafficking in persons - The World Factbook (cia.gov)
Human trafficking – Statistics & Facts. September 29, 023. Statistia Research Department,