It’s two o’clock on a Monday afternoon and Roger Baker is online. He’s not checking the weather forecast or how the Bucks did last night. He’s looking for young men and women who are being trafficked in the Madison area. On that particular Monday, Baker, a detective with the Madison Police Department, found nearly 300.
“It’s hard to know how many people are trafficked any given day,” Baker said. “It used to be on a street level—and it still is in some bigger cities—but here it tends to be online. And even though we’re looking for them and trying to help them, the sites are changing all the time and the victims are being moved from one city to another.”
This is the sobering reality more than 200 people learned about during a Feb. 21 panel discussion on sex trafficking, hosted by the Respect Life and Adult Enrichment committees at Our Lady Queen of Peace. It’s a number made especially meaningful by the fact that the number of people being trafficked that day exceeded the number in that room learning about their fate.
Glimpse of an alarming issue
Four speakers delivered a frank look at Madison’s trafficking problems:
- Det. Roger Baker provided an overview of trafficking in Madison.
- McKenzie, peer specialist and victim advocate at Project Respect, shared her personal experiences in trafficking. This was McKenzie’s first speaking engagement and she received a standing ovation for her powerful speech.
- Tracy Scheffler, founder of 5-Stones Beaver Dam, a group that helps educate youth and adults on trafficking, discussed vulnerabilities that traffickers look for.
- Tyler Schueffner, coordinator of the Briarpatch Street Outreach Program highlighted his non-profit’s efforts to work with vulnerable runaway youth.
What is sex trafficking?
The Madison Police Department categorizes sex trafficking as the recruiting, enticing, harboring, transporting or obtaining of an individual for commercial sex through fraud, force or coercion.
Key presentation insights
Many in the audience expressed surprise at the magnitude of the problem in Madison. It’s a hidden issue because there isn’t a “red light district” per se; recruiting and sales occur online and on social media.
While runaways are particularly at risk for being trafficked, kids who seem lonely or angry are also potential targets. Drug use and mental health issues are at the heart of many trafficking situations and a distressing level of trafficking occurs through peers.
Young victims are sometimes brought into the system by someone they perceive as a friend: The traffickers use trafficked kids, called “bottoms,” to recruit others. “Young people know other young people,” Baker said. “They reach out through social media, they connect at a mall or the bus stop. The bottom might make it look like something desirable—a way to make some money in a short amount of time.”
For their efforts, the bottoms might get better treatment, better food or even the chance to stop turning tricks—at least for a while. But, of course, what holds the entire system together are fear, threats and abuse—although those can all be more subtle than one might think. All speakers addressed the reality that the trafficker will initially be attractive, charming and manipulative, the better to entice and ensnare their victim. In many cases they might initially act as a boyfriend figure.
Signs of trafficking
This is just a partial list. For a more comprehensive one, go to polarisproject.org and search on “signs of trafficking.”
- Signs of poor hygiene, malnourishment and/or fatigue
- Signs of abuse
- Confusion
- Few or no personal possessions
- Frequently monitored
- Not in control of money, financial records or bank account
- Not in control of their ID
- Not allowed or able to speak for themselves (a third party could be translating)
- Claims they’re just visiting or can’t clarify where they’re staying
- Little knowledge of whereabouts
What should you do if you suspect trafficking?
If you see something, do something.
Call 9-1-1. It’s better to call and be wrong than not to call when you should have.
Call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888. You can also text them at 233733.
For victim assistance, call Project Respect at 283-6435, ext. 14
The police need your help
The Madison police department is taking this problem very seriously. “But the police can’t tackle this problem by ourselves,” Baker said. “The only way to solve it is by education and coalition building.”
Those coalitions are forming around town. They include the Dane County Coordinated Response Team—made up of law enforcement, faith-based agencies, and community groups—and the following groups that are working actively to address various elements of the problem.
There are many needs and many ways to get involved: learn about the problem and disseminate information; find ways to educate your peers (especially if you work in a frontline field such as medical care or at a salon, a common place to take victims during the grooming stage); collect toiletries and basic supplies; provide financial assistance and more.
|
Umbrella group for Every Daughter and Abolition Wisconsin (a coalition of men who come together to meet for prayer about sex trafficking) |
|
|
Provides services to runaway, homeless and at-risk youth. |
|
|
Ministry to sexually exploited/trafficked women |
|
|
A non-profit established for the purpose of raising awareness about the magnitude of sex trafficking in Wisconsin
|
|
|
Working in this area and also have a youth curriculum on sex trafficking to share. |
|
|
Multi-Faith Coalition Against Child Sex |
Local communities of faith working together to inform others and address issue of sex trafficking |
|
Social service agency that provides services to adults and juveniles victimized in sex trafficking |
|
|
The sisters have taken an official stance against human trafficking and are working to educate people throughout the state of Wisconsin. |
|
|
Group that’s working to curb demand for sex and labor trafficking in Madison |
|
|
|
Working to create a housing facility for sex trafficking survivors |