<\/p>\n
I appreciate you guys having this. I know this is probably the second panel that we’ve had this year on human trafficking, and I can just suggest to you that we can’t have enough of them because our biggest goal really is going to be to educate our community as to, one, how to identify it, So that once we identify it, that we then are able to try to prevent it from happening, protecting those who are subject to it, and then prosecuting those who are engaging in it. So I appreciate your investment into this aspect, and I look forward to the conversation.<\/p>\n
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Thank you. And then we have William Wolfe with the Department of Justice, also known as Bill\u2014 Detective Bill Wolfe. So, Bill, if you would introduce yourselves and share a little about the work that you do.<\/p>\n
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Absolutely. Well, good morning and\u2014 or good afternoon or evening, rather. And thank you to the Commission for holding this. As Bita mentioned, this is such an important topic, and I’m so thankful that you all are keeping the conversation going, particularly during what we’re going through right now as a country and certainly here in Northern Virginia. While many of us may be staying at home and working remotely, rest assured that the traffickers are still out there expanding upon their networks and victimizing and going after the most vulnerable. I was, in a former life, I was a police officer and investigator in the Northern Virginia area and investigated cases for many years. Left law enforcement to take on a career with the Department of Justice. And I currently serve within DOJ’s Office of Justice Programs as the Director of Human Trafficking Programs, where I help coordinate the support that we give to local and state entities that are still in the fight on the front lines. So it’s a pleasure to be here with you all this evening.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
So as I mentioned earlier, this is a Q&A session, so you will be able to ask questions of our panelists. This is being recorded. I failed to mention that in my intro. Carla Anderson of the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. will be our moderator for our Q&A session tonight. She works with the Trafficking Victims Assistance Program. So, Carla, do you want to go ahead and take it from here? Yes.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Okay, thank you. Welcome, everyone. I guess my question, my first question, it can go between Bill and John. And that’s one, one, does human trafficking exist in the suburban area? And if so, for John, do we have it in our area?<\/p>\n
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So I think Bill will echo this is, does, does it exist in suburban areas? Yes, it exists all over our country. Statistically speaking, we have very little reported cases of it in Loudoun County.<\/p>\n
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We-<\/p>\n
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I went and pulled our records, and also I’ve been assigned to this position for a number of years. There’s only been maybe 4 suspected cases that we’ve investigated in the town of Leesburg, which obviously is a much smaller footprint than all of Loudoun County. But there’s been 4 in the town of Leesburg that ultimately did not end up being a trafficking case. But we investigated it like they were until we could, you know, it was proved otherwise.<\/p>\n
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And yeah, I’ll just echo what Detective Mancella said. I mean, absolutely, this is something that we know it cuts across all races, ethnicities, genders, socioeconomic classes, and it’s certainly not something that is only happening in the urban areas. It’s one of the reasons And that’s one of the reasons why the Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs has dedicated so much funding to support state and local task forces. So this year, we set aside $22 million to support those state and local efforts in suburban, urban, rural, and in tribal lands to really address that from that investigative but victim-centered trauma-informed approach.<\/p>\n
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Okay, okay, that, that’s kind of almost good to know. So, um, I get\u2014 for Beuta, well, since we don’t have\u2014 there don’t\u2014 doesn’t seem to be a large number of cases in Loudoun. If there were, how does your office\u2014 I mean, are you seeing any kind of labor trafficking things come across your, your office, or Is it that because we have Dulles Airport right here where many potentially may come into the area, are you\u2014 or is this just something that we should be aware of? Or what can you tell our parents of Loudoun other than there are just 4 known cases? How can we be prepared to, to be on guard against this?<\/p>\n
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I think the biggest challenge is that is changing the narrative as to what exactly is human trafficking. Sex trafficking is something that when we watch TV or we see the movie Taken, that’s what we kind of associate it with. And we have to just change the narrative and the definition of what it is because it’s not that somebody’s taken your kid or your kid is left home for endless periods of time and has not come home. You know, part of this is your kids are cut in school. but they’re gonna be home for dinner. So nobody’s thinking that that is part of the trafficking as to what are they engaging in while they’re gone for those periods of time. Also, the harsh reality that they may not identify themselves as victims because part of their behavior is\u2014 ’cause let’s take it, for example, just\u2014 we’ll just stick with the standard sexes where you’ve got a young girl who’s got an older man who comes across, and it could be an older boy, you know, 18, 19, 20.<\/p>\n
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Right.<\/p>\n
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who shows affection, and now it’s a relationship that they’re promising. Or, I’m promising you some outings and some, you know, benefits here and there, and just come out with me, or, you know, come out and, you know, hook up some of our friends. So what they want to do\u2014 or it’s maybe just a matter of you could get a couple of hundred bucks here and there. So they’re not identifying as victims, which is why I think we don’t have a great amount of reporting, because it exists. We look at internationally people coming in to be nannies or home workers or house workers, and they get paid, you know, pennies on the dollar. That also is human trafficking. So we just have to figure out how do we change the narrative and the description and the definition of it so people understand it so that when it’s reported, it’s reported accurately. So I think that’s, that’s the catch that we have. And Carla, you also asked as far as labor-wise. We do see it in labor. We see people who are brought into this country, snuck in, and they have to pay a fee or a, uh, some amount of what their income is for the person who smuggled them into the country. So it comes into so many different flavors that a lot of people are not thinking broad enough as to what it is. And I think that’s why we have underreporting versus accurate reporting.<\/p>\n
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Okay, great. Bill, I know that you, um, had some experience prior to your current position. What exactly can you tell our parents to do? What can our parents do to protect their children? And especially where it comes to social media?<\/p>\n
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Sure, yeah. We know that a lot of the, the recruitment and the ultimate grooming of these victims is occurring online. I think there are a couple of key tips for parents. First of all, it’s to really be engaged with your child, to stay involved and engaged in their life. Know who their friends are. I know a lot of times, you know, it’s a different world. It’s definitely a different time to be parenting than most of us grew up with, where, you know, we would go out, we would play in the neighborhood, and then when we would come home at night and our parents would close the door, lock the door, and that kept the bad guys out, right? Now the bad guys can come in through, you know, these mobile devices at all hours of the night. We know particularly with these stay-at-home orders and with school, you know, schools being closed, that where are a lot of kids? A lot of kids are on these devices trying to stay connected to their friends. But we also have to recognize that’s where the traffickers are. And I think one of the most important things that parents can do is educate themselves about what human trafficking is and then have an honest\u2014<\/p>\n
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Right.<\/p>\n
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conversation with their kids. It’s difficult, I get it, to talk about some of these topics, but it’s important that we’re talking to them about the fact that this is a very real threat and what that looks like.<\/p>\n
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Okay, John, did you have anything to add to that, to like locally in Leesburg, what parents might be able to do? Maybe, I’m not sure if there are locations or anything like that that you can be able to offer from a local standpoint.<\/p>\n
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Just again, like Bill kind of nailed it on the head. But there’s a, you know, parents monitoring what their children are doing is, is like that first line of defense. So one of the things we often tell parents is that, you know, your, your child’s phone, like, shouldn’t have a password on it that you don’t know. Otherwise, you need to get rid of\u2014 like, your child shouldn’t have a phone if they don’t want to be open and honest with you. You’re the one providing\u2014 in most situations, you’re the one providing your child with the device. So you should have access to that device and be able to view it. There’s certain apps that, you know, just quite frankly are troublesome. Yes, they’re fun. Yes, they’re entertaining, and, you know, their intended purpose is, is, it’s good. It’s for that entertainment value. However, you know, the illicit purpose of those apps maybe outweigh the ability, your desire as a parent to let your child use it. So really monitoring what your child’s using, why they’re using it, is important. As far as local resources, I know myself, the police department, the sheriff’s office, and a number of other local agencies, we all partner together if, you know, we have a multidisciplinary team specifically focused on human trafficking when these cases occur. So we make sure that victims get the services that they need and stuff like that. They also put out information on their websites. about resources that parents can, can get and also how to identify grooming techniques and other indicators that are out there. I’m sure Bill has some of the websites as well, especially on the federal level.<\/p>\n
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So I think that then that leads to my next question. What exactly, if I’m going through the mall, what exactly are the signs? What do I look for or what does a potentially trafficking victim or even a trafficker look like that we\u2014 and then after that, what are the steps that as a citizen we do or parents that we do to bring the law enforcement aware?<\/p>\n
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I’m willing to answer that if that’s okay. John, do you mind if I cut in?<\/p>\n
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No, ma’am. Please go ahead.<\/p>\n
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Okay. Carla, look around at all the people that we have on this panel. Every one of us could be a trafficker. Every one of us could be actually a trafficked person. There is no cookie-cutter viewing as to what that person looks like. You know, just from a statistic perspective, I think we are myopic when we start thinking that it’s women or girls. You know, I think we have a fair amount of males, and they are not always young boys. You know, they could be young adults who are part of the trafficking, being trafficked. So when you say, what do they look like? That’s really the\u2014 it could look like anybody. How we might be able to identify it, maybe just watching by behaviors. And if you see somebody who appears to be very uncomfortable with the people that they’re with, that might be a signal that something’s not kosher there. Do they look to be maybe to a certain degree unkept? You know, because that they, they don’t have their own financial means or their own ability to be able to walk away from that person or engage otherwise. You know, are they somewhat constantly deferring to that other person in awkward ways that you would not expect somebody maybe of that age or that relationship that you would think that they have to be able to do that? So it’s more in how they’re reacting more so than what they would look like would be my suggestion that we start paying attention to. And as we come across individuals, as you said, in the mall, in schools, doctors, anybody who has any contact with individuals, is maybe just having that radar up and asking questions. That’s really the best way to be able to suggest that is don’t limit yourself to what they might look like, but really start paying attention to how they’re acting.<\/p>\n
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Okay. Okay. Did John or Bill, did you all have anything to add to that?<\/p>\n
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No, I think, I think you hit the nail on the head. I mean, we don’t\u2014 there is no one specific demographic or one way that you can put, you know, paint that picture of what a trafficking victim looks like. And I think that’s why it’s important for us to be vigilant. I think it’s important for us to recognize when things just don’t seem right. You know, the adage of see something, say something, right? How can we\u2014 I think the first part of your question was how can we best support law enforcement? Well, we’ve got to get that information into the hands of Detective Miceli, right?<\/p>\n
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Mm-hmm.<\/p>\n
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He needs to know, and then he gets to look into it, right? That’s his role or his position in all of this is to look into that and investigate that case. So I think it’s important for us to all be vigilant. I think there are several different resources out there, particularly for parents, that can help, you know, understand or help identify behaviors that may be indicators of some level of abuse or something’s just not right in that individual’s life. But it is\u2014 I think it’s about being engaged, being vigilant, knowing that it could happen to anyone. And then I think the hardest part Is having the courage to stand up and report and let somebody know and not just turn a blind eye and say, oh well, maybe somebody else will report that, or that’s somebody else’s problem. It’s important that we are being vigilant and reporting that information out.<\/p>\n
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Okay, okay. And how about like hospitals, doctors’ offices? Now that we’re in this situation, the same thing with domestic violence, many times a safe place might not be a safe place. But is there\u2014 are you\u2014 is there any place that we should\u2014 that potentially, like hospitals, should they be\u2014 have a little bit of awareness, or are there programs that can train hospital workers to recognize when potentially these victims might come in?<\/p>\n
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So the answer is yes. There are several very good local nonprofit organizations that are working in the anti-human trafficking space that I know have some training specific for the healthcare sector. I will also share that my colleagues over at the Department of Health and Human Services within the federal government have some resources and a training program that exists online, and that’s called the SOAR program. And so that is designed specifically for healthcare workers to be able to learn how to better identify human trafficking in that specific setting.<\/p>\n
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Okay.<\/p>\n
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And, and we were\u2014 one of the questions that came in, it’s where in Loudoun can someone go to get help? If you\u2014 I know there are hotline numbers and we’ll give a lot of resources at the end of this, but where can someone go to get help?<\/p>\n
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One of the biggest resources we have in all of our exploitation type of cases is LAWS, the Loudoun Abused Women’s Shelter. They have a lot\u2014 they have counselors on hand specifically with sex trafficking that will help both male and female victims. It’s not just limited to females. But LAWS is one of our biggest resources, as is Loudoun County Mental Health Services. They’ll be able to help us as well.<\/p>\n
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Okay. So one of the things, like, Beauty, you’re with the Commonwealth Attorney. So do all of you all work together? Like, if there’s a case, how\u2014 I mean, do you work across county lines? Do you work together across department lines within the county? How does How is that working?<\/p>\n
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From our office’s perspective, obviously we would work within the agencies within Loudoun County. So the Sheriff’s Office, Leesburg Police, any of the other police agencies. We would also work with the federal agencies because what we’re finding is, and this is nationally, this is such a broad issue that it is not isolated and it rarely ever is isolated to just a small part of the community. So we would be expecting to want to reach out to the neighboring counties to see what they have because what also may end up happening is you’ve got people who travel, right? We’re very transient as a community. If they were in Loudoun and somebody shakes, you know, that tree a little bit and they get a little concerned, where are they going? They’re going to go to Fairfax or they’re going to go to Arlington, not leave their community whole, but just bounce from county to county or town to town and think that they can fly under the radar. So yes, we work together to try to identify, but also the strength is, as John was saying, is trying to provide the services under this multidisciplinary team to try to address what do we need to do to help the victim so that from a survival perspective that we’re able to acknowledge that they have had this trauma and how do we best serve them so that they become a healthier adult.<\/p>\n
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Okay. There was a\u2014 oh, okay, I’m sorry, go ahead.<\/p>\n
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There’s a number of resources we all use together. You know, there’s a Northern Virginia Human Trafficking Task Force that most of every law enforcement, social services are members of. The multidisciplinary team is anytime we have a case that we suspect that in Loudoun, we automatically have those meetings and it’s a roundtable of 20 or 30 folks talking how to best serve the victims and also from our perspective as law enforcement, what we can do to bring charges or prosecute that case if it’s possible. And we also work, my department, we work very closely with The FBI and their Child Exploitation Task Force with\u2014 out of the Washington field office.<\/p>\n
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Okay. All right. There was a question that came in for Bill and\u2014 okay. And the question was initially, how do\u2014 if you could clarify on the Health and Human Services training program, HHS training program. I’m not sure if that’s the acronym it stood for. That you mentioned with regard to the hospital training.<\/p>\n
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I did, and there’s a link that we can, we can share with the group if folks want to learn more about it. But SOAR is designed to educate healthcare providers, social workers, public health professionals, and behavioral health professionals on how to identify, treat, and respond appropriately to individuals who are at risk or who have been trafficked. So really, the target audience for the program includes physicians, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, registered nurses, dentists, psychologists, social workers, case managers, school counselors, public health professionals, health education specialists, and allied health professionals. One thing that I’ll say is I don’t think anything ever beats, you know, in-person training, but certainly we’re all learning to go to this online sort of virtual platform. And so that’s\u2014 I think it serves as a very good introductory training and overview for those that are working in the healthcare sector.<\/p>\n
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Okay.<\/p>\n
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So, well, I\u2014 we don’t see\u2014 I mean, the audience is welcome to send us more questions if you have them. Is there anything that you all that maybe we didn’t touch on that you would like to to share with us with regard to this problem?<\/p>\n
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If I may just throw out some statistics. And this is when we were talking earlier, John was talking about there were 4 cases reported in Leesburg. In Virginia, just in 2020, and we’re not even halfway through the year, they’ve had over 1,000 calls to the National Human Trafficking Hotline. There have been 198 cases identified related to human trafficking And then we start talking about\u2014 and Bill, I think you might be very well placed to give us the dollar amounts\u2014 but there’s over 119 trafficking businesses in Virginia that have been identified. And what I wanted to do is to pass it on to Bill to talk about how many dollars there are that are made in the human trafficking and how that ends up comparing to other criminal activity.<\/p>\n
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Sure.<\/p>\n
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In profitability?<\/p>\n
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Yeah, so it is a hugely profitable industry. Some of the more recent statistics suggest it’s a $9.8 billion\u2014 that’s with a B\u2014 billion-dollar industry in the United States alone and $150 billion worldwide. So you can understand that this is certainly an industry where there’s a lot of money moving in and out. And so when you have that kind of money, the traffickers, the bad guys, are certainly going to do whatever they can to operate under the radar to protect their, their illicit enterprise. And oftentimes this can present itself as a commercial front where you think there’s a legitimate business inside and they’re actually operating a trafficking ring. It’s not always something that’s operating in the shadows. At the Department of Justice, we’ve put a lot of focus into looking at the illicit massage parlor business\u2014 businesses and developing some innovative investigative techniques to support law enforcement in really digging into them. I think one thing that is important that I really\u2014 a point that I want to make is even though we know human trafficking is very prevalent. I want to be very clear in pointing out that it is one of the most complex cases to deal with for law enforcement. The investigative piece, working with the victims to ensure that they have the services that they need and getting them in a place where they’re stable and can actually provide evidence for law enforcement. So many folks that we come in contact think, well, you know, the police can just go out and find a trafficking case and make an arrest and then bring it to Buda and she can throw them in jail for the rest of their lives. And it’s really important to understand that it’s so\u2014 they’re highly complex investigations with so many different moving parts. And so this is why the Department of Justice is so focused and committed to getting those tools and resources to state and local law enforcement. So that they can be more effective in that fight. And then, of course, also supporting our prosecutors as well as our service providers that help the victims become survivors and on the path to recovery.<\/p>\n
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Okay. We’re starting to get a couple of questions in. And I know, Beuta, you had touched on this about many youth, I mean, many victims don’t even realize that they’re victims yet. And I know, Even with the clients that we see, it’s only until about 3 sessions in that they realize they’re victims. But one of the questions is, is what options do parents have when a youth says they are not a victim, but all the signs are there?<\/p>\n
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I think it goes back to what Bill and John were saying earlier. As a parent, you’ve got to stay in the business of your kids because they may not identify, because think about it. Nobody’s dragging them from the street into a white van and bringing them to some, you know, hole in the wall. That’s what we view as being a victim of the sex trafficking. So we have to just have the conversation as to what it is. It’s, you know, being forced to do some sort of labor or some act from coercion or force. And coercion could be emotional, you know, pressure. It could be financial pressure. So if a parent is seeing that, I would suggest the following is that the parent engage The other aspects of their child’s community, the school, a pediatrician if the child is young enough, or doctor, their peers to see if they can help influence their way of thinking so that they can actually see it from an outside objective perspective so that they understand how those relationships are, that they are indeed supportive of that being a trafficking relationship versus it being just a\u2014 what we would otherwise call a normal Okay, another question we have, it’s\u2014<\/p>\n
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they’re all on the stats, and it’s\u2014 there are a couple of questions with that. It says, where can we find the stats that were mentioned earlier, and who tracks and reports the stats, and what are the evidence-based prevention programs?<\/p>\n
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So there’s a lot to unpack there.<\/p>\n
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Yes.<\/p>\n
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So as far as\u2014 there’s lots of different places that we can find some statistics relative to human trafficking. One document that I’d like to draw everybody’s attention to is Congress mandates that annually the U.S. Department of State prepares and releases a Trafficking in Persons Report. And that Trafficking in Persons Report, I believe it’s scheduled to come out maybe next month in June. That report looks at trafficking across the world. And it will break it down by country and really dig into what’s being done in that country, what’s left to be done. And there is a section on the United States. So there’s some information that can be found there. The National Human Trafficking Hotline was another resource that was referenced earlier. That is a great resource as well. I believe their website’s nationalhumantraffickinghotline.org, or you can just Google, Google that and find it. They’ve got all kinds of statistics that are specific to states and other localities. They’ve got a lot of good documents to read. There’s a lot of research that can be done around human trafficking and really looking at, you know, what type of specific stats that you’re looking for. Within the Department of Justice, we house\u2014 one of our program offices that we house is the National Institute of Justice. And annually, we invest a couple of million dollars into research around human trafficking. So going to the National Institute of Justice’s website, you can find\u2014 you can do a search. We have a brand new website, very proud of that. We just launched the new website that is much more user-friendly, and you can do a search for any publications on human trafficking that will get you a lot of really good research over the past maybe 2 decades that we’ve really looked at human trafficking and different aspects of it. So I’d encourage folks to do some self-learning and some research and find all those different resources that are out there. Okay.<\/p>\n
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All right. And just to reiterate, for anyone that may have joined us later, can you once again explain what can parents do, or the average citizen, what can they do to prevent human trafficking on a whole? Or what, what are some tips, just general tips on how to\u2014 for all of us to be able to help you flatten that curve?<\/p>\n
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So I’ll jump in again and then let my colleagues add on to that as well. I think that the first step, and certainly not to sound like a broken record, is to educate yourself. There’s a lot of information out there. There’s a lot of good local resources, a lot of good local nonprofit organizations that post information on their sites. that are doing outreach efforts within the Northern Virginia area. Certainly following some social media of some of those organizations, I think, will help folks to understand a little bit more. There are resources out there. I do want to commend Loudoun County, and in particular Loudoun County Public Schools, who adopted a prevention curriculum in the schools. Now I know We’re certainly in a unique posture with regards to our schools now, but I know that some of those groups are working to adapt that prevention curriculum to be delivered in an online format. So there’s a lot of different efforts that are going on. I think a lot of it is educating yourself and looking for some of those tools and resources that are available to parents. And then again, just echoing what my colleagues have said, and that is just to be engaged. When something doesn’t seem right, explore it. A lot of times we hear from parents, well, I thought it was just normal teenage behaviors. I thought my teenager was just acting out. Sure, we know that teenagers go through growing pains, of course, but I think that when we’re really engaged in their lives and where we have an interested role in their life, we can learn and start to differentiate what that really is, if that’s really them just going through some growing pains or if in fact there may be some level of abuse or exploitation that could lead to trafficking.<\/p>\n
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Okay.<\/p>\n
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All right. We have another question. It says teens have asked, should I be wary of anyone interested in me? How will I know if someone is faking that they really are interested in me or actually grooming me?<\/p>\n
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That’s a, that’s a tough one because you’re trying to allow kids to develop relationships naturally. You don’t want to make them, you know, paranoid or feel that everyone around them is a freak, you know, but just, it’s honestly inviting them and establishing a relationship that they could have those conversations with their parents and those adults that are around them that they can trust.<\/p>\n
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Yeah.<\/p>\n
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Because yes, it’s a tough balance to say, well, am I being groomed or am I being, you know, um, am I\u2014 is somebody engaging in dating me or trying to develop a relationship? It’s tough until the behavior starts to change. So once it’s, you know, are you isolating this person? So before we used to hang out with multiple friends, now it’s just you and I. Uh, before we used to go out in public, now we’re going out in private places. Before you know, who you knew, I knew. Now you’re introducing me to people who I didn’t know before, and now you’re asking me to engage in behaviors that I’m not comfortable with. So it really is a progression. It’s hard to say this to young people because we do it with adults, but don’t lose your radar. Your sixth sense is usually a very good indicator that something is, is off-kilter, it’s wacky, and they have to kind of embrace that to be able to say, okay, why does that hit me as being odd, rather than talking themselves Out of the fact that it’s odd or unnatural or there’s something weird. And being\u2014 feeling safe enough in our homes and in our communities that we could ask that question without feeling embarrassed. And that probably might be the best way to approach it, is to be able to have that conversation so someone can guide you from outside your own head. Because once you talk yourself into something, it’s really easy to talk yourself out of something. And it’s out of that weirdness, you’re gonna be like, no, no, it’s okay. So you kind of will be able to excuse why you feel weird but don’t want to feel weird.<\/p>\n
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Okay.<\/p>\n
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All right. So, and just so our\u2014 I mean, I think Jermaine’s going to mention this later. This is part 1 of a 2-part program. So we are going to discuss a lot about prevention and tactics and things like that that parents can use. So we definitely\u2014 I mean, not that you all don’t have the answers, but we also have another group coming in on the prevention end. So I think that was\u2014 we have someone that said, is Bill referring to sources of strength? But I’m not quite sure what part of\u2014 in your speech that they are asking about. He did\u2014 just so we talk about the HHS training program, there was a link shared where people can get detailed information about that training program for, you know, later, and it goes into a lot further detail, but he did share that link with us. I thank you all so much for everything. We don’t seem to have a couple of questions, but Jermaine, you might have some, and I’ll turn it back over to you.<\/p>\n
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Thank you. I was just looking at the Q&A. It looks like we have one additional question come in. So it reads, in some cases there may be a family member grooming the child or young adult. How can they seek help confidentially so they can get assistance?<\/p>\n
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I think, you know, in not only in this arena, but in all different types of crime, domestic violence, things like that, they do have to find a trusted adult, whether that’s a teacher, a doctor, a clergy member, a police officer, and they have to report, right, if they’re seeking help. And then, and then again, everything we’ve said so far with the different resources. that then start to get put into place will happen. But it’s, it’s always trying to find that trusted, that trusted adult, you know, especially say it’s not a parent and you have to find another trusted adult. And that’s specific to juveniles, but a trusted friend for our adult victims as well.<\/p>\n
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All right.<\/p>\n
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I’ll just add\u2014 oh, sorry, Jermaine. Yeah, so there, and there is the National Human Trafficking Hotline that folks could, especially particularly adults, you know, could call. That number is 888-373-7888. And they also have the capability, if somebody’s in a situation where they can’t talk on the phone, Maybe they are stuck at home with their abuser. They do have the ability to text, so you can communicate with them via text, and then that hotline will then coordinate with local law enforcement. So if it’s a case in, say, Leesburg, though, you know, the hotline will reach out to Detective Michella or his department and then coordinate the, you know, the rescue of that, that child or that adult victim.<\/p>\n
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Okay. And then there’s one additional question. How much, if any, has there been an increase in human trafficking cases since COVID-19?<\/p>\n
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I think it’s hard to quantify it because we don’t have the normal engagement outside of someone’s home. So it actually might be harder to be able to have somebody report it or to be identified. So I can’t say\u2014 I don’t know how we would quantify that at this point because of the fact that it’s almost like child abuse. I think there’s been a documented decrease in reporting. Do we think there are fewer kids being hurt? I think not. But there’s no teachers. There’s no doctors. There’s not the neighbor who may otherwise be seeing these events. I think just the opportunity to report has decreased during this COVID period. So I would suggest\u2014 I can’t\u2014 I don’t know if we could answer that number, but I would suggest that it is not decreased by any imagination as far as that. I just don’t see how that could be the case. I think it’s just not being discovered.<\/p>\n
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So, Beuta, I do have one more question for you. So in a situation\u2014 and I don’t know, maybe John or Bill might be able to help answer this too\u2014 in a situation where a trafficking victim commits a crime, are there diversion programs out there for them, or are they prosecuted strictly for the crime that they’ve committed?<\/p>\n
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I think you’ve asked I don’t want to say the best question, but the most interesting question for me because of this reason. Until recently, we really weren’t looking at the person who committed the offense as possibly being a victim themselves. We didn’t. We kind of just looked at the behavior. We addressed the behavior. We punished behavior, and then you move on. And now what we’re doing is we’re slowing down the process to ask the questions. Where did this person come from? How did they get engaged? And it’s interesting because this past year, the Virginia legislature actually was looking at passing a bill where what would happen is if somebody had committed an offense while being a victim of sex\u2014 of human trafficking, so let’s assume that they committed something under coercion, that the court actually could look at that and do a deferred finding or do an expungement. It didn’t pass, but maybe that conversation will take place again this upcoming year. But there are other states that it actually does. It makes it a law that they can’t prosecute somebody who committed an offense while being trafficked. So nationally, I think we’re dealing with that aspect of it. Can the wrongdoer actually still be a victim? Yes, they can. And we just have to be a little bit more broad-minded to figure out what is the greater good. in how we deal with these cases.<\/p>\n
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I can speak for us locally too, is these\u2014 as Bill mentioned, these cases are very complex. So we would be partnering at the forefront of these cases with Ms. Biparai’s office and getting direction on how we’re supposed to go from there.<\/p>\n
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Okay.<\/p>\n
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All right, well, thank you again very much. Every\u2014<\/p>\n
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it’s always great to keep the conversation going and get the facts out there and figure out how law enforcement plays into this picture. We always get a lot of presentations, but we never really get to hear from the law side of things. So I appreciate you all giving that point of view.<\/p>\n
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Thanks.<\/p>\n
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Oh, there was another question. Okay, I’m gonna answer that. Okay, so, um, excuse me. Thank you guys so much for joining us tonight, and to our panelists, the wealth of information that we Thank you. The information that we got tonight is just surmountable, a lot for us to think about. We thank you for sharing your expertise, and we thank you for the work that you’re doing in our communities to help keep us safe and informed and empowered in the process. Part 2 of this series, Prevention of Human Trafficking: We All Play a Part, it is not to be missed. It is going to be phenomenal. Part 2 will be\u2014 will take place place on June 10th, 2020 at 7 PM. Registration is now open, and you don’t want to miss it. So we thank our panelists for joining us, and Carla, thank you for moderating tonight. And now we’re going to hear from our excellent chairwoman of the Loudoun Commission on Women and Girls, Angela Mitchell. Got it. I figured it out. I couldn’t figure out how to unmute myself. Thank you guys so much for joining us tonight. Thank the panelists. You guys are always available to give us this wonderful information. The Commission really appreciates all the individuals that are participating tonight. Please join us on June 10th for part 2. Later this summer, we will also do a series on domestic violence. We’re also dealing with that issue, as we’ve stated tonight, as a result of COVID-19. And just want you all to know, if you’re interested in getting involved with the Loudoun Commission on Women and Girls, please check our website. And just to tell everyone to stay healthy.<\/p>\n
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Thank you.<\/p>\n
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Angela, I forgot one thing. I’m sorry. So I forgot to share the resources. I’m going to pull that up real quick. And of course, this is not all that we have, but we do have the Catholic Charities Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., and there’s their contact information, so you can record this as you need to. You can\u2014 welcome to take a picture of the slide, whatever is necessary for you to have the information that you need. please do. And then we have Just Ask to End Human Trafficking. That’s a prevention organization located in McLean, Virginia. And then the National Human Trafficking Hotline that Bill referred to earlier. And there’s their information. And so I’ll give you a minute to record that or take a picture of that because we have one more slide. We can also post this on our website, Janine, and our social media outlets. And then here is the second one. We have NOVA HTI, which is located also in Reston. And then University of Maryland has a SAFE Center that provides resources for survivors, and there’s their contact information. And then of course the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and their 800 number there.<\/p>\n
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Okay.<\/p>\n
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So those are just some of the resources that are available to help assist those that are surviving and certainly to assist those that are in the heat of it right now and information for those who suspect that someone is in a situation to call upon. So thank you so much for participating tonight. Angela, do you have anything additional?<\/p>\n
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No, I think we’re good.<\/p>\n
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Thanks so much, everyone. All right, so you should find the registration link on our website, lcwag.org, and you can register for our second part on June 10th, 2020. Thank you. Thank you.<\/p>\n
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