Policing the Non-public: Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking

Whilst ‘the public’ is often assumed to mean ‘everybody’, those marginalised through immigration policies and border policing are more often treated as those who do not belong. It is from these populations that so-called victims of ‘modern slavery’ and ‘human trafficking’ (‘MSHT’) typically emerge. As a result, police officers concerned with protecting these people should focus first of all on the harms caused by the state itself. Only in this context can one understand the specific situations of abuse and exploitation that the ‘modern slavery’ paradigm alludes to, and why policing so often causes more harm than relief to the people involved. This chapter elaborates on this context and considers the contradictions involved in both the concept and policies of ‘MSHT’. Whilst those on the frontlines are frequently criticised for failing to successfully implement anti-slavery legislation, I argue that police officers are charged with satisfying irreconcilable political objectives. By discussing the contradictions and complexities of this often oversimplified topic, the chapter may offer some explanation for the experiential and emotional frustration officers face in this line of work. I finish by tentatively discussing possible paths of progress.