By Carrimia Owens Crusaders’ Chronicle
Among the several types of crimes that occur in the city of Detroit, human trafficking is a silent epidemic.
Human trafficking is more than an abduction off the street. It’s a thought-out process to lure innocent young teens into a corrupt and dark lifestyle of sex and drugs. The victims can be held in captivity for years and scattered among different locations so they won’t be found.
“People wouldn’t suspect that women are the perpetrators in these sex crimes and that young males are also in human trafficking,” said Michele Bail, an investigator in Sex Crimes, a unit of the Detroit Police Department.
Human trafficking goes unnoticed every day by citizens. You could live next door to a male or female that’s being trafficked. This sex crime is prevalent in the city and suburbs with adult males who target troubled, misguided, and young females and males that have run away from home. Social media also plays a big role in helping these men find these teens.
“Someone can befriend you on Facebook and you think you are talking to a 15- or 14-year-old boy or girl, but in actuality it’s a perpetrator,” said Marvin Jones, Commanding Officer of Sex Crimes.
Backpage.com is a website used to display the young women involved in human trafficking. On this website, men identify a place they want to meet these women. Time, date, and a place are set and the females are sent to that location to fulfill the paid obligation.
“Human trafficking is more advanced than prostitution,” Jones said. “Prostitution is the woman or man being pimped out and with human trafficking they can be sold to various people throughout their involvement in it.”
The victims are brainwashed to believe that they are in a safe and protected environment and that they can trust their abductors. Many victims are reluctant to testify against their abductors because they have come to trust and depend on this one person, and they feel obligated to stay loyal to them. The job of the officers at Sex Crimes is to free the mind of these young men and women, establish trust, and get them to testify against the perpetrator. Once the victim is the age of 17, they cannot be forced to testify.
“Adults and children should know that human trafficking is a dangerous and scary lifestyle and social media is connected to this crime,” said Jones. “Everyone needs to be aware and protect themselves and loved ones.”
For help or more information, contact the Detroit Police Department’s Sex Crimes Unit at (313) 596-1950.
