RALEIGH COUNTY, WV (WOAY) – This Human Trafficking Prevention Month is about empowering communities to identify and report exploitation.
Strong relationships are critical ‘protective factors’ that reduce vulnerability to traffickers.
Show your support for the cause by wearing blue this Sunday.
“It starts with grooming someone, you might give them promises of gifts or something,” said Raleigh County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Benny Halstead. “Gain their trust until you’ve got power over them to make them do anything you want.”
Human trafficking isn’t something that only happens somewhere else. It happens in communities just like this one.
Raleigh County is situated at the intersection of I-64 and I-77, two major thoroughfares.
“But we’re also kind of a rural-metropolitan area. A lot of rings out there that go around, and have kids commit crimes for them,” Halstead said, adding that way they are hidden in the background. “Once they do get to control them and make them work, it doesn’t necessarily have to be sex-related. It could be labor-related.”
Doesn’t matter how old, young, or what ethnicity you are. Anyone can be trafficked.
“With the drug epidemic, there seems to be more people needing to resort to sustaining their habit,” said Halstead. “So they’re pretty much looking for younger children or other loved ones to do things for them so they can get money to feed their fix.”
According to the lieutenant, keep an eye out for little kids and others getting things they normally wouldn’t have.
“Some of those gifts are electronic. ‘Hey, I’ll get you a phone. I’ll get you this cool toy. I got you this and that.’ Building trust. Victims don’t (typically) have a way of getting those. That could be a sign they’re being groomed into a trafficking situation.”
