Human Trafficking: What You Really Need to Know
By: Amy Ramsey, Director of Community Outreach & Education
Many of you may have some understanding of Human Trafficking and where it exists. However, many of you are unaware just how prevalent it is not only in the United States, but in our very own Hunt County.
• Texas is ranked number one in Human Trafficking in the US. Houston is ranked number one and Dallas is ranked number nine in the USA for Human Trafficking. As defined, Human Trafficking is Sex Trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which a person induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age; or
• The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.
A victim does NOT have to be physically transported from one location to another in order for the crime to fall within these definitions.
Human Trafficking is alive and well right here in our very own Hunt County. Our area has seen many cases over the last several years but you may be surprised to learn that human trafficking is much more than people being grabbed from parking lots. Traffickers also use social media to lure girls and boys of varying ages by developing a relationship with them online and gaining their trust. These traffickers lure the victims with the promise of friendship, money, favors, affection, etc. and unfortunately our kids are longing for this type of attention without realizing how dangerous chatting with strangers online can be. Once the trafficker gains the victim’s trust they will ask to meet them in a public place where they will abduct the victim.
How can you protect your child (or yourself) from falling prey to this type of crime? Pay close attention to who your kids are chatting with online and what apps they are using. This may require you investing in a software monitoring app, etc. There are many options available for you as a parent. Also, be completely aware of where your kids are going away from the home. Please do not just assume that your kids are always going where they say they are going. This is why monitoring apps are such a great option for parents.
If you would like more information about how to protect your children from Human Trafficking, please contact Amy Ramsey at the Hunt County Children’s Advocacy Center at 903-454-9999 or if the situation is an emergency and you believe someone is in immediate danger,
call 911 and alert the authorities. Tell them you think it may be human trafficking so that it can be routed to the proper investigators.
Follow that call with a call to the National Trafficking Hotline at:
1-888-373-7888 or report on-line at Report@PolarisProtect.org
Or you can contact the National Center or Missing & Exploited Children at:
1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678)
https://www.missingkids.org/gethelpnow