A metro Atlanta law enforcement officer is bringing home some major hardware from a statewide conference this week in Savannah.
Georgia’s Association of Chiefs of Police named Detective Natalie Fields of the Roswell Police Department as its 2024 Outstanding Officer of the Year. Fields was recognized for her investigation of multiple illicit massage businesses in Roswell in 2023, which culminated in an operation that rescued 20 human trafficking victims and led to three arrests.
Fields’ investigation was just the beginning as it spread to other counties across the state, leading authorities to free more than 50 trafficking victims, the GACP said in its announcement.
The investigation was risky for Fields, who said in a video interview that she repeatedly went undercover to spas where she suspected illegal activity.
Fields said she appreciated the opportunity to work with victims, learn about their culture and educate them about their freedoms.
“Please go the extra mile,” Fields said, addressing her fellow law enforcement officers. “I know it’s easy sometimes to write a report and just send it through, but sometimes the smallest report can land the biggest cases and make the most difference in somebody’s life.”
In September 2023, Roswell police and multiple other agencies simultaneously executed 10 search warrants on several massage parlors and homes. One man, 56-year-old Wei Cheng Huang, and two women, 41-year-old Yan Lin and 36-year-old Lin Chen, were arrested on charges of racketeering, sex trafficking and labor trafficking, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported.
Roswell police have since shut down more than a dozen massage parlors and the city has passed new ordinances creating stronger regulations around the licensing process for those types of businesses.
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