Efforts to prepare for potential cases of human trafficking in Utah got a boost Tuesday with the announcement of nearly $1 million in federal grants.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday that Salt Lake City and victim service organizations will each receive $450,000 for a new Human Trafficking Task Force.

The grants to Salt Lake City and nine other communities nationwide were announced at the 2006 National Conference on Human Trafficking in New Orleans. There are currently more than 32 such task forces nationwide, according to the Justice Department.

The Utah task force, expected to have its first meeting next month, will be a collaboration of local, state and federal law enforcement, and prosecutors along with victim service organizations.

While no case in Utah has risen to the level of federal human trafficking charges, there have been cases that prosecutors and human rights activists say have come close. And they say it's probably only a matter of time until Utah sees such a case.

Melodie Rydalch, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney for Utah, said it's important to establish protocols for helping victims once they're rescued. There's an equal need, she said, to educate those who might come into contact with victims and not know it.

"One of the big needs is training of basically everyone from law enforcement to first responders to anyone who could be in a position to identify a case of human trafficking," Rydalch said. "We are convinced there are cases out there. We just need to look closer and ask more questions."

The majority human trafficking victims are women who are usually forced into prostitution, commercial marriages or occupations such as domestic work, according to a recent United Nations Population Fund report. As many as half of all trafficking victims are children, the report said.

"Human trafficking is a violation of the human body, mind and spirit," Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said in a statement. "For this vile practice to be taking place in a country that the world looks to as a beacon of freedom is a terrible irony and an utter tragedy."

Efforts to identify and prosecute human traffickers are being stepped up. The 79 convictions involving human trafficking in fiscal year 2006 were more than double the convictions the previous year, the Justice Department said.

Mollie Murphy Dale, community programs director for the Utah Health and Human Rights Project, said "it takes a lot of education and a lot of training" to adequately serve trafficking victims.

The Utah Health and Human Rights project is coordinating nonprofit efforts under the $450,000 grant, which is fiscally sponsored by the Tides Center, a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization.

The federal grants require $150,000 in matching funds from Salt Lake City, and the nonprofit organizations will also work to raise matching funds for their grant.

Reception of the grant by Salt Lake City will require approval by the City Council, said Mayor Rocky Anderson's spokesman, Patrick Thronson. He said the city had yet to receive an award document from the Justice Department.

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