SAN JOSE — A joint police-prosecutor team dedicated to combatting human trafficking in Santa Clara County has yielded three significant cases since its inception this past summer, authorities said.

The task force consists of a sergeant and two deputies from the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office along with a deputy district attorney and investigator from the District Attorney’s Office.

While investigators did not reveal many details about the three cases, Sheriff Laurie Smith and county Supervisor Dave Cortese, who spearheaded the funding for the team, said they were the first salvo to fight a problem big enough to make the county one of the country’s top 13 metropolitan areas for human trafficking.

“Human trafficking has long been an issue in law enforcement,” Smith said. “It just hasn’t gotten the recognition it deserved.”

The new task force formed July 1 aims to change that, starting with the case of a 22-year-old woman who was kidnapped and brought to the area across state lines and forced to work as a prostitute. The person suspected in the servitude has been identified by investigators and is being sought. Authorities declined to release any identifying information, citing the ongoing investigation.

They are also looking for a 17-year-old girl thought to be working as prostitute after arresting her suspected handler. Smith noted that it can be difficult to get a victim to cooperate.

“Very often, the victim doesn’t want to be rescued until you can really work with them, to have them understand that this is not normal,” she said.

Additionally, Smith and Cortese mentioned that the task force is pursuing a case that crosses international boundaries involving several women being trafficked from multiple Southeastern Asian countries, all for sexual exploitation.

And while the sex trade is predominantly what is envisioned when human trafficking is mentioned, Smith also noted that forced labor is happening in other forms, such as illegal marijuana grows where the exploited are predominantly men.

Anyone with information about known or suspected human trafficking can leave a tip at sccsheriff.org.