Protect Our Kids
On April 4 the Sierra College Foundation and Soroptimist International Grass Valley co-hosted an enlightening and informative symposium on human trafficking. Speakers included representatives from the Grass Valley and Nevada City Police Departments, Yuba City Police Department, Nevada County Sheriff’s Office, District Attorney’s office, Family Justice Center, Women of Worth, and human trafficking survivors.
Human trafficking for labor and sex is a $150 Billion business annually, with an estimated 25 million victims worldwide. As of this year, profits from sex trafficking have overtaken those from illegal drug trafficking, and an astounding 66% of victims who come in contact with law enforcement are minors. District Attorney Jesse Wilson explained that human trafficking utilizes many insidious ways of attracting victims, regularly crossing jurisdictional lines. Without collaboration with a broad spectrum of law enforcement and criminal justice organizations, our communities do not stand a chance of solving this enormous problem.
Nevada City Police Chief Dan Foss provided a legal definition of sex trafficking as “the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, obtaining, patronizing, or soliciting of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age.”
Supervising Deputy DA Helenaz Hill works closely with victims of sexual assault and trafficking, many of whom are minors, as well as with detectives from allied agencies. For this symposium, the main focus of discussion for DDA Hill and the multiple law enforcement representatives present was internet crimes against children.
Chief Foss explained that traffickers view their victims simply as merchandise, a product to be sold. This is big business, with an estimated 750,000 predators on-line at any given moment, and first contact by these predators, particularly with minors, comes primarily through frequent access to social media.
Thousands of agencies are involved in sharing information, monitoring internet activity, and providing “cybertips” involving internet crimes against both children and adults. NCPD School Resource Officer Stofleth and Yuba City Police Detective Joe Swallow, Digital Forensics Examiner for his department, informed the audience that there are 2 million Apps on the Apple App Store and 3 million Apps on Google Play. “There are Apps for everything”, Det. Swallow said, and predators often lure young victims through these applications, whether social media or gaming. Applications such as Instagram make identifying potential victims very simple due to oversharing of personal information. Snapchat has “disappearing” content, which makes it very popular with predators, along with encrypted messaging such as Telegram or Kick.
Once contact has been made through any one of these many platforms, and trust has been established, the minors are encouraged to provide nude photos or videos, which are then used to blackmail them. Males are usually coerced with threats that the images will be exposed unless they pay money to the predator. Imagery of girls is in great demand for sale or trade; thus, girls are more commonly blackmailed to provide more images, using the threat of exposure to friends or family.
The two most common categories of internet exploitation are CSAM – the production and distribution of child sexual abuse material; and SCES – commercial sexual exploitation of children which includes “sextortion” cases. The reader may find it surprising to learn that 90% of “sextortion” victims are boys, and more boys are driven to commit suicide as a result of this exploitation than girls.
In order to safeguard and protect our vulnerable children, adults must have control and passwords for all devices and accounts to which the child has access, and content should be restricted and closely monitored. Children should not be allowed to use their devices in a closed room where there is no supervision or oversight. All games, Apps and social media should be approved by the adult – many games, such as Minecraft, provide on-line access points for predators.
Children and teens do not understand how personal information and images can be misused and lead to victimization. Maintaining a continuous dialogue with your children and educating them about the dangers of the internet, such as groomers, scammers, sexting, financial sextortion and the potential for victimization was stressed as the most important way to protect them.
Four survivors of abuse and sex trafficking, who currently work with “3 Strands Global”, an anti-human trafficking organization dedicated to education and prevention, shared their eye-opening, illuminating, impactful and compelling personal stories, making an often-emotional connection with those in attendance. Their testimonies re-emphasized the fact that anyone at any age can fall victim to predators, controllers, and traffickers.
Although the scope of human trafficking and victimization in our country seems insurmountable, there is hope for those impacted, one person at a time. Polly Conley, Chief Medical Officer of Western Sierra Medical Clinic, informed the audience that there are 300 Family Justice Centers worldwide that exist to provide coordinated services to victims of domestic violence, child or elder abuse, sex trafficking and more. Through an initial grant received by the Nevada County District Attorney’s Office, Nevada County will soon be one of only two rural counties to have our own FJC. This type of facility in our own backyard will provide impactful resources for victims seeking help. Another resource already operating in our community is Women of Worth, a non-profit led by Executive Director Cinnamon Danielson. Women of Worth currently has one safe house dedicated to victims of domestic violence and human trafficking and their children. Besides providing a safe haven, these women are offered healing counseling, support groups, childcare, instruction in self-defense, financial literacy, building a resume, and other services to help them become healthy and self-sufficient.
Further Resources:
Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force: www.icactaskforce.org
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children: takeitdown.ncmec.org, familysupport@ncmec.org
Internet Crime Complaint Center: www.ic3.gov
Family Justice Center of Nevada County: www.FJCNC.org
Women of Worth: www.womenofworth.org.