(FOX40.COM) — The Sacramento Police Department made 121 arrests, conducted 220 stops and recovered 41 victims as part of a human trafficking crackdown earlier this year.

“Human trafficking affects people of a lot of different ages, different genders,” Sacramento Police Department Spokesperson Allison Smith said. “It’s not just the kind of things you see on TV.”

This 16-day-long operation in January, which authorities called “Operation Buyer’s Remorse,” worked to target these crimes which are often difficult to measure. In 2024, the National Human Trafficking Hotline identified 3,603 potential victims in California alone.

However, law enforcement officials said many cases go unnoticed and unreported. Older women, young children and people of all backgrounds can be forced, coerced or deceived into all types of of labor or sexual exploitation.

In January, FOX40 spoke with the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office about Human Trafficking Awareness Month. Now, in March, the police department is elaborating on their efforts.

“We worked up and down the Stockton Boulevard corridor,” Smith said. “We did things to disrupt buying behavior in terms of human trafficking, addressing traffickers and also connecting any victims and survivors with those community advocacy resources.”

For this large-scale operation, Sacramento police and the Sacramento Regional Human Trafficking Task Force teamed up with the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office and the California Department of Justice.

Smith said in addition to the arrests, stops and identification of nine traffickers, one of the most important results of the effort was the rescue of 41 victims. She explained how this operation was about more than arrests.

“It’s being able to build trust with those victims and those people that are being trafficked so that they can escape that kind of cycle and go on to bigger and better things outside of trafficking,” Smith said.

Many victims don’t realize they are being trafficked, officers said. It can happen hidden away or out in the open. In Sacramento, police target areas like Stockton Boulevard. In Sacramento County, Watt Avenue is also a hotspot.

“This is something that we’re going to continue throughout the year,” Smith said. “We’ve expanded training for officers in our department. As well as put more effort into intervention education of folks at a younger age.”

Smith said the outreach portion of combatting human trafficking is extremely important.

Signs someone is being trafficked really can vary, but, according to police, people should look out for those who maybe avoid making eye contact out in public while seeming controlled by the person they are with. If they’re wearing inappropriate clothing for the season or to be out in public, that could also be an indicator.

For more information, visit the National Human Trafficking Hotline’s website. Police said that if anyone sees something that seems at all suspicious, it’s better to report it — just to be safe.

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX40 News.