COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — Victims of human trafficking are often children. Pennsylvania State Rep. Joe Webster’s office hosted a panel discussion Thursday with local victim service agencies on Montgomery County’s response to human trafficking.
U.S. law defines human trafficking as the use of force, fraud or coercion to compel anyone into any type of labor or sex act in exchange for any item of value. It’s big business — raking in an estimated $150 billion in profit across the globe.
Webster (D-150) says he was shocked to learn it was happening in his district.
“I had no idea this was going on,” he said.
Leslie Slingsby, CEO of services and operations for Mission Kids Child Advocacy Center, says last year they identified 22 child trafficking victims and provided services to 80 children who were trafficked.
Many times the very vulnerable, like runaways or those coming out of the juvenile justice system, fall victim. But kids are also trafficked in their own homes by family members.
“Unfortunately, we've had family members or caregivers actually traffic their own children,” Slingsby said. “And I think we often think about trafficking as transporting kids somewhere or taking kids, and that's not what we're finding.”
Slingsby says the majority of trafficking victims don’t identify themselves as victims.
“If you asked if they were a victim, they would say no. That's not really how they identify it. They would identify it as a way of living, to survive, really — for housing, shelter, drugs — things that they're physically relying on.”
Webster says the city of Baltimore has an excellent collaborative program that his office is learning from, citing communicating with law enforcement and with safe counselors to care for victims instead of incarcerating them.
Montgomery is taking a small step in that direction, he said.
“We have a coalition of groups, including law enforcement, and the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office, and they work together. Anytime a victim is identified, to make sure that victim is taken care of and safely separated from the group, that may be controlling them.”
Webster says there were instances where a fake massage parlor would open up with cars in the parking lot at 2 a.m. in a suburban strip mall. Police would shut it down, and another would pop up in another area of town.
“I was able to introduce a House Bill 1241 on human trafficking around certification of these massage parlor businesses,” he said. “And so we'll hopefully do a little bit to give our law enforcement agencies some tools they can use to monitor this a little better.”