Joy Friedman, Women’s Case Manager, Breaking Free, discussed the stages of sex trafficking – recruitment, initiation and enslavement – and the intense psychological damage that impacts all victims of prostitution, or, as Friedman calls them, “overcomers.” After explaining the reality of sex trafficking, Friedman called her audience to action.
“We have to shift our paradigm,” she said. First, she asked audience members to take the word “prostitute” out of their vocabularies, as it reduces victims of sex trafficking to what has happened to them instead of recognizing their individual worth. Acceptable terms to replace “prostitute” include “victim of prostitution” or “victim of sex trafficking.” This vocabulary shift, she said, is a simple but very important piece of action.
Erin Gregoria, Case Manager for Trafficking Victims Services at Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, highlighted the various aspects of labor trafficking.
Gregoria stated, “Human trafficking is a form of modern‐day slavery.”
Deb Flatness, Detective, Albert Lea Police Department, highlighted the steps that local law enforcement is taking to put an end to trafficking. In an effort to address the issue of human trafficking proactively, the Albert Lea PD reached out and formed a partnership with the US Office of Justice Programs Diagnostic Center, (OJP) for their assistance in examining the scope of human sex trafficking in our area. Through OJP consultation, training, expertise, and technical assistance, we hope to determine and evaluate existing ALPD data and to identify and gather additional data available. This will also help find a means to collect data in a meaningful format going forward.
With the assistance of the Crime Victim’s Crisis Center, the Albert Lea Citizens Against Human Trafficking, and the Freeborn County Ministerium, we have been able to identify and contact more than 50 community leaders and stakeholders who are willing to share their insight and experiences in upcoming interviews with the OJP Diagnostics team. The information shared will assist in identifying new data elements. The OJP will then provide diagnostic analysis of all of the information and data gathered to determine the potential for human trafficking for sexual purposes in Albert Lea and the surrounding area. We plan to utilize that information to identify training opportunities to improve a system‐wide response to human sex trafficking, and particularly to develop recommendations and best practices for law enforcement response to these incidences.
After the presentations, there was time for a question-and-answer session with the presenters. Several community members shared personal experiences with trafficking of local children, as well as concerns on how the internet and technology play a role.
For more information contact Stephanie Kibler, stephanie@moebiuseducation.com.
