LOS ANGELES, Calif.—California law enforcement officials announced on Feb. 15 they arrested hundreds of suspects this week in an annual human trafficking operation, called Operation Reclaim and Rebuild, and rescued more than 80 victims, 8 of whom were children. All of the victims were female and were local to California, authorities said, noting they had not found evidence of trafficking across state or international lines. The operation was an effort across several departments, including the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and the Los Angeles Police Department in cooperation with the Los Angeles Regional Human Trafficking Task Force and over 80 federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies from across California. Despite some media outlets and academic journals calling the link between large events and human trafficking a myth, authorities said otherwise. Alan Smyth, Executive Director of Saving Innocence—an anti-human trafficking advocacy organization—told reporters there is a “false narrative” being peddled by …