Click here for the TLC Presents documentary "Breaking the Silence". A must-watch for parents and anyone with children in their lives.

South-metro officials spread cautionary tales on human trafficking
Erin Adler, Star Tribune
The full Article, with any associated images and links can be viewed here.

A close call in Savage has opened the eyes of Scott County to the reality of sex trafficking, and now the police department and other partners are trying to address the problem through increased communication with the public.
In mid-February, a young teenage girl in Savage ran away to meet someone she thought was a 15-year-old boy. She had met him over the Internet and he urged her to come to Texas with him. “The person she was communicating with in another state was obviously not a lovesick teenage boy,” said Jim Caauwe, the Savage Police Department’s crime prevention specialist.

By working with the girl’s cellphone provider and various law enforcement agencies, authorities found the girl at a Minneapolis bus station the same day she left, said Rodney Seurer, Savage’s chief of police.  Seurer and others now believe the young woman was on her way to being lured into forced prostitution.

The girl’s case isn’t unique, but it exemplifies the growing scope of sex trafficking in Minnesota, Caauwe said.
It’s something people tend to think isn’t happening in Scott County, or in the suburbs generally, said Pat Ciliberto, Scott County Attorney, who mentioned the anecdote at a recent County Board meeting.
“Actually, it is happening,” Caauwe said. “It’s not in your face, but law enforcement sees it.”

He said Minnesota has the highest per capita number of runaways in the country, and 50 percent of prostitutes start out as runaways. Minnesota is also among the 13 largest centers for sex trafficking in the U.S., with the average age of entry 13 years old, according to the Savage Police Department.

Last Thursday, the Savage Police Department hosted an information session on sex trafficking for parents "Human Trafficking, a Local Perspective: Is Your Child for Sale?”

Ron Hocevar, chief deputy in the Scott County Attorney’s Office, played a 911 call from a sobbing woman who was lured to St. Paul from Iowa by a man she met on the Internet. In a week, she was forced to have sex with 30 men and feared her captors would kill her. Rather than criticized, the woman should be commended for her bravery in making the call, Hocevar said.

Speaker Ann Quinn from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension explained why human trafficking is on the rise, including a seemingly endless supply of victims, many of them young. Others are in the country illegally and speak little English. They are ashamed and terrified to notify authorities, she said. Victims’ reluctance to come forward is a major problem in prosecuting pimps. “We don’t have a lot of women out t here saying, ‘Help me, I’m a prostituted victim,’ ” she said.

Daryn Kral, a computer forensics expert from the Scott County Sheriff’s Department, was that professional. Many parents have no idea that their kids can get online from their iPod or by accessing a smartphone app, he said. He discussed warning signs that kids might be involved with cyberbullying and shared details of how online predators groom kids. By the time predators meet them in person, kids often trust the adult completely, he said. Seurer said the department started conducting trainings about sex trafficking several years ago, but technology changes so rapidly that it’s hard to keep up.

List of Minnesota “Clean Hotels”. This is a partial list of hotels in Minnesota developed by the MN Department of Health, under the aegis of the MN Men’s Action Network, identifying hotels in Minnesota with 30 beds or greater that provide a pornography free environment. Conversely, here is a List of Minnesota Hotels that sell porn. 

Read more at the Men as Peacemakers website

From Huff Post Impact, Feb 9, 2014

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mary-david/snowstorms-leave-human-tr_b_4641522.html

Experts predicted a -20 degree wind chill as I walked towards the metro in Washington, D.C., passing numerous people who appeared to be homeless hovering outside the station. Most businesses were shut down in preparation for the impending snowstorm. Layered in three pairs of pants and four overcoats, I immediately thought of the 1.6 million children, or one out of every 45 youths, that are homeless in the United States. Some of the hundreds and thousands of homeless women, children, and runaways across the country were facing freezing temperatures. Where would they spend that night and the nights ahead? How many of them would become victims of sexual assault, rape, and human trafficking because of their lack of shelter?One in three child runaways are targeted by traffickers within 48 hours of leaving the home. Was there any safe place for them to go?

The answer seems so simple -- homeless shelters and religious groups take people in on a regular basis. Police officers even tell college students in parts of Washington, D.C. not to worry about the homeless in the city. People who are homeless here are not utilizing their options of shelters that have not reached capacity, these officers claim.

But what about the abuse that takes place at homeless shelters? What about the fact that many well-meaning groups and organizations lack the resources or means to keep out pimps, recruiters for traffickers, and those who otherwise take advantage of helpless women and children? Those who target these locations because they know the vulnerabilities of the people who enter?

Shelters, safe houses, drop-in centers, and other presumed havens for the less fortunate are often rife with crime and dangers that lead women and children onto the street or into the hands of traffickers in the first place. They are lured by pimps of all ages and races who seem to be kind and act with compassion. Traffickers often promise a roof, clothing, shelter, food, but more than anything, a sense of stability. Security. Community. It is a troubling, dysfunctional reality, but many women and girls who find themselves in prostitution or human trafficking come from dysfunctional family dynamics. Between 75-95 percent of all prostitutes were victims of child sexual abuse. Many others were abused or neglected. These are women and girls that, more than anything else, seek certainty and safety -- basic needs we all have as human beings. When relationships of trust and concern shift to abuse, it does not seem out of the ordinary to individuals who have been exploited or abused in the past. Even in a traumatic, gruesome human trafficking scenario, victims become accustomed to a cycle - they normalize their relationship with the trafficker, periodic highs and lows, and camaraderie with the other victims and traffickers. Victims do this to get through to the next minute, to survive. They don't have to fear the unknown of what might happen if they tried to leave. They can avoid fear of what lies outside of the trauma which they have already endured, trauma that has put them in a survival mode which rejects the risks of anything potentially more unbearable than what they already experience... it entraps. It takes over. It is almost impossible to break through. 

Imagine a homeless teen who has left an abusive relationship and has a baby. Imagine she retreats to a shelter where aggressive, belligerent, or intoxicated people accost her, make snide comments about her child, and multiply the fears that first led her to the shelter. Should she stay?

Would you?

A trafficker will seem generous, affectionate, offer care and comfort for this mother and child. It may seem, at first, to be the best option. And even when the situation goes awry -- she goes out on the streets, being watched by her pimp, giving all that she earns to him... he is still watching out to make sure other pimps don't interfere. He is guarding "his commodity." In some way, it might even make the teen feel like he values her, because she is producing something for him. Gaining that sense of significance creates a bond with the trafficker and another mental block. Furthermore her baby is at home, fed, and has a place to sleep. Isn't this better, she thinks, than the shelter where she was raped and had no space to herself? Isn't it preferable to be somewhere with people who have become familiar, a man or woman who occasionally gives her affection and care, sometimes bestowing her or her baby with comforting gifts? Isn't it better than having to guard her child from strangers every second? Pimps invest time and energy in their "product" - as long as it helps them make a profit. A child or traumatized woman may not feel the same sense of worth or personal investment from strangers at shelters who change with hourly shifts. They may not feel a comparative sense of routine or stability.

And there is of course the ever-looming threat if she decides to leave. Will someone tell her trafficker where she went? Will the trafficker harm her or her child in retaliation? Rape her child? Gang rape or beat her until she is almost dead for her disloyalty? 

The possibility is too grim, too severe, especially after what she has already experienced: shame, a lack of value, guilt over her "choices," depression, and humiliation from being raped or forced to have sex with so many clients. 

What about shelters for women and children only? Surely in a city like Washington, D.C. these resources must be abundant. 

Sadly, shelters are greatly lacking for women, girls, and boys who have been rescued from human trafficking. Non-profits struggle to secure housing for victims, in Washington, D.C. and nationwide. Some facilities require extensive intake procedures which, while valid and understandable, require victims to rehash their experiences at all hours of the night. These victims often have to describe their history and trauma in great detail to complete strangers while they are still incredibly raw emotionally and lack much, if any, support. Some facilities treat victims like criminals; tight security may be the only way to keep traffickers out and victims, particularly youth, from running away. But locks are disturbing for obvious reasons -- they limit people who have already been living in slavery. Physical restraints create a new kind of disempowerment and anxiety without offering a sense of assurance about what comes next. Under this tremendous pressure, it suddenly feels so much more natural, almost logical, to leave: At least victims know what to expect from their pimp. This indefinite safe house with strangers and no context can be too overwhelming. 

As I exited the metro, the snow had started to fall and the streets were deserted. No one lingered by the station. I thought back to the crowd I had seen huddled outside earlier, bracing themselves for one of the coldest, windiest nights in years. Where were they now? Even more on my mind were the young women and unseen but most certainly present boys and girls who would work this night as any other night.

The case for choosing a life on the streets is more complex than we admit.

Mary David Human trafficking expert, motivational speaker, and writer

Find out about America's Dirtiest Secret. Sex trafficking increases during the Super Bowl and other major sporting events. The Polaris Project also reminds readers that trafficking happens every day in every state:

Great article from the Huffington Post:
10 Things You Didn't Know About Slavery, Human Trafficking (And What You Can Do About It)

There are women and girls right here in Minnesota who have been able to break free from human trafficking and sexual exploitation but they are starting over with little or nothing for themselves or their children. In this exceptionally cold winter, they could really use a hero with a coat.
Can you help?

Imagine the difference that coat will make to the woman or child who receives it. If you have a very gently used coat or are out shopping the post-season sales and find a deal, can you bring it in as soon as you are able? 

Members of the Breaking Free (a Minnesota nonprofit) outreach team will deliver them ASAP. 
Sex trafficking is a complex problem. It it takes time to build trust and help someone trapped by coercion, threats, desperation and fear. That is what Breaking Free works to do.
But they need your help. This is one big way that you can make a difference today. 

There is especially a need for:

• Women's XL to XXXL (or Men's larger sizes could work)
• Children's sizes (Infant to 14/16) 

Please bring to:
Location: Breaking Free, University Avenue, Saint Paul 
Days/Times - Call Robin to schedule: @ 651-645-6557 ext 8161

**Please let them know you heard about this from Hero Search*** 

Begin 2014 knowing you have made a woman or her child more comfortable in the Minnesota cold.
More importantly, she will know there is someone who stands behind her and cares. 

Please share the message with everyone you know who might be able to help.

Friday, December 20, 2013 
MN bad guy gets longest sentence yet - 36 years

Our legal system is making progress.
With heavier enforcement, longer sentences and stiffer penalties, make it more risky and in the big picture less lucrative to exploit girls and young women. Hopefully, over time this is a piece of the puzzle that will help prevent other other victims.

So sad to see, again, how these predators target the most vulnerable - young girls at the age of just starting high school; and as one of the victims described, the family routinely preyed on "young women who are mentally slow and/or vulnerable" when recruiting them for prostitution.

Both brothers are accused of taking drastic measures to keep their victims under their control. In April 2011, Washington-Davis brought a victim to a hotel in Ely so she couldn't talk with her family members and so that they wouldn't know where she was.

What Can We Do?

Protect our children:
If there are children in your life or periphery that are vulnerable through weak family support, social alienation, bullying, menal or physical challenges - Reach out. In your family, school, church, neighborhood. Be a source of strength and support. Even in little doses, you never know what small acts make a difference.

There are victims because there are willing consumers:
Based on the statistics, we all know consumers.
One of the greatest things we can do as individuals is not to be afraid to talk about this.
It is hiding in plain sight.

Posted by Hero Search at 7:18 PM

Friday, December 13, 2013 

A St. Paul couple was charged in trafficking case with 15-year-old girl this week after the girl sent an email: “These pictures was taking of me and posted on backpage the people that posted them have been making me sleep with the guys that called im only 15 years old …. Please help….” The couple was charged after the girl told police that the pair made her have sex with up to 20 men a day.

15 year old? Do you remember being 15? I was just getting used to high school, playing volleyball, going to dances, learning to drive, starting to date, loving Christmas and holidays with my family....and being safe and sound at home.
This girl is just one. There are others kids like her out there tonight right here and all over Minnesota that need help. And other kids at risk because they don't have simple things like a safe place to live, food, a family.

But there is so much hope. This is a human-made problem that can be solved.

If each one of us individually does something - no matter how small - This dark part of our neighborhoods and world will begin to change.
I'll be posting just some of those things in the weeks to come.

In the spirit of the Hero in HeroSearch.org (and nod to Hobbit 2 out today), a quote:
(Saruman) believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love.
I agree with Gandalf.
Posted by Hero Search at 2:06 AM

Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Hero Search connects people with causes they care deeply about(like animal rights, human trafficking or youth education). Organizations who are doing important work within a cause list simple things they need so followers can help real people, right in the community, right now. Find out more - Subscribe to this blog to be part of this exciting and brand new way of giving. We are starting our beta test - BE PART OF IT! Start subscribing and post your ideas and feedback. To Qualify, you must: 1) Have a big heart! 2) Be willing to provide feedback to make Hero Search great! For our initial beta test, we will be working with human trafficking organizations in the Twin Cities Metro and organizations that serve survivors as well as work in prevention through work with at risk youth including youth living in crisis, that are homeless, with socioeconomic challenges, and many others. Approximately each week, we will post everyday ways you can help - by donating things you already have, adding a few things to your grocery or household purchases to donate, participating in local events, or even things you can do in your everyday life. We want to add more causes in the future so take the survey and help create the next version of Hero Search ->
Posted by Hero Search at 8:43 PM