Human trafficking is a problem that affects every community, including Hot Springs, according to the chairwoman of the Human Trafficking Task Force of Garland County.
"We know where there is a human being, there is going to be a problem because it's a human nature problem," Melisa Glenn said.
"Human trafficking is happening all over the world," she said. "But it's not just an international problem. This is something that I realize is actually a domestic problem."
Glenn, who spoke to the Women's Welcome Club at the Hot Springs Country Club on Wednesday, said it is estimated there are about 27 million slaves around the world, which is about the population of the state of Texas.
"Human trafficking is the largest criminal enterprise right now," she said, adding that there are three main criminal enterprises -- arms, drugs and human trafficking. Sex trafficking is also the fastest-growing criminal enterprise, she said.
Although the statistics are horrible, she said, good things are happening to combat human trafficking.
There are three main forms of human trafficking, according to Glenn. The first is organ trafficking, where people are sold for the purpose of harvesting their organs.
The second is labor trafficking, which can include "any type of work where you are serving a purpose for someone else," Glenn said. Examples include a person not getting properly paid, a person who lacks the choice of leaving somewhere, or someone who is forced to work in improper working conditions.
The third form is sex trafficking, which is any type of commercial sexual enterprise, she said.
Glenn told the group to think of human trafficking in terms of slavery.
"It's basically when you lose your freedom to the control of another," she said.
Because people who are trafficked are often forced to do things that are illegal, they must prove they are a victim and not a criminal. This can be done in three ways, Glenn said.
"Those three means are force, fraud and coercion. So this separates greatly if you are a criminal or if you are a victim," she said. "This was also huge for us, because it gives us a way to identify a victim."
Glenn said human trafficking is growing because it is hard to identify the crime. She gave the example of a woman who is pulled over by a police officer with drugs in her vehicle. The officer can see the illegal drugs and arrest her. However, if she is pulled over with a woman in her car who is being trafficked, the officer will only see a woman.
Looking for force, fraud and coercion can help law enforcement officers as well citizens to identify victims, she said.
Force is when someone is taken or kidnapped, she said. Fraud is any type of lie, noting the example of a false job offer made to a woman who lived in South America. The young woman moved to Hot Springs with the promise of a good job, but it turned out to be a lie and she was held against her will. Glenn said the woman did not speak English, so she attended language classes. Her teacher finally noticed something was not right and the woman was rescued, she said.
"Coercion is that psychological breakdown of an individual's ability to reason and think on their own," she said. "Coercion can include things as simple as threats or perceived threats."
Anyone can be a victim, Glenn said, noting, "What a trafficker looks for is someone who has more vulnerability."
Glenn said there are many men being trafficked, but in general females are targeted more because they are generally more vulnerable. Children are also targeted more, as well as those who cannot speak English.
Glenn told of a boy in his late teens who would hang out around a mall and "catcall" young girls. How the girl responded to him was how he would determine his mark.
"He said if a girl walked by and he did a catcall ... and she didn't even look at him, kept walking and didn't give him the time of day, then he would leave her alone because she was completely confident and she didn't need anybody. He could not prey on her weakness."
She said there are four ways for everyone to help fight human trafficking: to share, talk about it, and raise awareness; to give financially to organizations that fight it and rescue victims; to pray about it; and to get involved and join organizations like the local human trafficking task force.
Local on 01/15/2017