MK Protection Strategies/SAFE International Milwaukee were honored to be invited again to present our violence prevention/self-defense workshop at the second annual Traffick Jam, hosted by the Fight To End Exploitation organization. Fight To End Exploitation is non-profit organization based out of Racine. They help to prevent conditions that foster human trafficking in southeastern Wisconsin through education, specialized training and out-reach efforts. Overall, their purpose is to stop human trafficking in Wisconsin. Each year, they sponsor a Traffick Jam for teens and parents to raise awareness and educate on the subject.
We presented two separate workshops for teens and parents. We were thrilled to see 100% participation in both workshops, and received great feedback from many people after our time with them.
Luckily, we had some time in the morning to attend a few parent sessions. One of the sessions was especially fascinating, as it featured the two founders of the Fight To End Exploitation Non-Profit, Kerri Hemmig and Neal R. Lofy.
Neal is an investigator with the Racine Police Department, and is assigned to the Special Investigations Unit investigating human trafficking. He is also a Special Federal Officer with the FBI and the FBI Wisconsin Human Trafficking Task Force.
We could have listened to Neal talk all day, as he presented real stories that illustrate how girls and women are groomed into trafficking. The youngest female he rescued was 12, and the oldest was 62. Most females don’t know they are a victim of human trafficking. Many traffickers will look for females that appear to be lacking something and fill that void as a strategy to build rapport and a relationship with them. Neil gave an example of a typical teenage girl who got in a fight with her mom and went to take a walk around the block because she was upset. It started to rain, and attractive guy pulled up in a car and said “Hey it’s not good for you to be walking out here in the rain, do you need a ride somewhere?” The girl appreciated the attention and concern from the attractive guy and gets in the car. The guy asks her if she’s hungry and what he can get her to eat. The girl thinks the guy is so kind and is possibly even interested in her. She is hungry, so she says “let’s stop by McDonalds.” He says “order anything you want.” She says “cool, my mom never lets me do that.” The guy takes her back home. They stay connected. The girl really likes him. He buys her things. He takes her places. They start what the girl thinks is a relationship. The guy is much older than her. It looks like a relationship, sounds like a relationship. The girl soon begins to love the guy. Time passes and the girl is head over heels for this guy. The guy says he is having financial troubles. One day, the guy asks the girl to do sexual things with other men to help their financial situation. She doesn’t want to. The girl loves the guy more than she loves herself, so she does. And so it begins. She is being trafficked. She does not want to jeopardize the relationship, or, she is threatened if she stops. She believes she is in a relationship with the guy. He fills voids in her life. She loves him. He is her trafficker. Traffickers have many of these “relationships.”
There are many other ways traffickers find their victims, but this grooming process is the most common. I was surprised to hear that when you’re looking at traffickers, don’t look at adults only. Sometimes in high schools, other kids will recruit for their trafficker.
It’s good to point out warning signs of human trafficking so people know what to look for because most people in our community think it’s not happening here. It’s happening in all 72 counties of the state of Wisconsin.
Warning signs may be lots of unexplained money and new clothes, new friends, unexplained absences, change in behavior, tattoos or branding related to money or ownership and/or the child is unwilling to explain, signs of current physical abuse and/or multiple sexually transmitted diseases, presence of, or communication with, a controlling older boyfriend.
We were most surprised to learn that the greater Milwaukee area is the largest federally funded human trafficking law-enforcement task force in the entire United States of America.
Finally, be aware of what is going on and what it looks like. If you notice anything, call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 888-373-7888
They can identify trends or may be tracking people, so your information can be extremely helpful.
