Experts: Human trafficking happening everywhere, even in Converse County

DOUGLAS —  Converse County is not immune to human trafficking. It happens here and in Wyoming, and it happens across the United States and the world, according to Uprising’s Terri Markham.

Uprising is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to increase awareness of human trafficking by providing education and outreach to communities.

Markham visited Douglas Sept. 24 along with the Albany Advisory Council on Trafficking’s Justin Scott (former Converse County Sheriff’s Office undersheriff) to give a community awareness presentation on human trafficking and what that looks like, thanks to the efforts of the Douglas Rotary Satellite Group and Douglas High School’s Interact Club.

Human trafficking is more than sex-related

Human trafficking includes bonded labor, debt bondage and involuntary servitude amongst migrant laborers, involuntary domestic servitude (similar to an indentured servant), forced child labor and child soldiers, prostitution, children exploited for commercial sex and child sex tourism and more, according to the U.S. Department of State.

It’s a lot to take in – in fact, it can be downright overwhelming. But, without education, awareness and action – and diminishing the demand for human trafficking worldwide – trafficking in adults and children will not stop.

Statistics are hard to come up with, however, Markham said, because the crime often is reported as something else.

“Any type of human trafficking is highly underreported. It often is going to intersect with other crimes. It can be really easy for service providers, law enforcement and other people in the community to notice there’s a crime, but not necessarily realize that there’s also human trafficking happening,” she said. “We don’t really have solid numbers of what this looks like in the U.S., let alone in Wyoming.

“One type of exploitation that we do see in particular is online-based exploitation against children,” said Markham, adding that her organization does have numbers on crimes investigated by the Internet Crimes Against Children task force.

“Last year, over 800 cyber tips were recorded, and they have to investigate each one of those tips. The ICAC commander always says that with child exploitation, it is still technically trafficking; it falls under the umbrella of trafficking.”

Markham offered an example of a nude photo or video of a child that is shared over and over.

“It’s like they’re being trafficked over and over and over again,” she said. “There’s a lot of those types of cases.”

Markham explained in a follow-up interview Sept. 27 that those types of statistics are “the very tip of the iceberg when it comes to that crime because, again, it’s still really underreported. The people who are really good at harming children in that way know how to go undetected. They have all the right tools to do this without getting caught. So the ones that we’re catching are not even the low hanging fruit, (but) the fruit that has fallen on the ground, meaning these are the people who are the most unskilled at harming children this way (so they get caught) and that’s the numbers that we’re seeing.”

The community awareness event was held at the Douglas Congregational Church. Just over two dozen people participated along with another six people tuning into the presentation via Zoom.

“The main thing that attendees learned that night is that trafficking often is . . . a lot more broad. It often looks a lot simpler than the pictures in most people’s heads. People tend to think of these really sensationalized instances of trafficking when they hear that word because it sounds like this very big, scary word,” Markham told the Budget.

“It can look as simple as a kid who meets someone on the internet. That person presses them into sending nude photos. Now (the adult who pushed for the photos) is selling them online. And that’s technically under the umbrella of trafficking,” she said.

“Trafficking looks like that parent who is selling their child or children because that’s how they put food on the table. And, in that case, it could be happening right out of someone’s home, which can be really hard to catch,” she added.  “With a case like that, I always like to say that oftentimes it is trafficking, but you might not realize what’s happening in your community because it’s not often labeled as trafficking.”

Usually, it’s more simple. Markham said, “It could be a neighbor doing this out of their house, it could be someone next to you at church. Was there force? Was there fraud? Was there coercion? Was she being forced to trade sex acts for something of value? Because that’s really with trafficking what we’re looking for is any sex act in person or online that is being traded for anything of value, and someone, a third party, is profiting off of that. They are the ones benefiting from that exchange of commercial sex.

“It’s really about people (knowing that human trafficking) is happening in our communities all around us and to be a little bit more aware,” Markham concluded. “That’s why we shared different types of tracking that we see across communities. People can take the time to educate themselves.”

What members of the community can do

Markham said that for someone in the community who suspects that this is happening, the best thing to do is go straight to local law enforcement.

“There are national hotlines and things, but it’s going to filter down and eventually make it to your local law enforcement if there is something that they deem as a credible tip worth investigating,” she said. “We recommend cutting out the middleman and going straight to (law enforcement here).”

According to Uprising, here are some signs to look for in potential victims of  human trafficking or sex trafficking:

• Disconnection from family, friends and community

• Drop in school attendance

• Sudden or dramatic change in behavior

• Engaging in commercial sex acts

• Disorientation or confusion, or showing signs of mental or physical abuse

• Bruises in various stages of healing

• Acting fearful, timid or submissive

• Being denied food, water, sleep or care

• Someone else is in control of movement or speech

• Being coached on what to say

• Living in unsuitable conditions

• Lack of personal possessions

• Unreasonable security measures

“If you’ve been victimized in this way or you need help because you think you’ve experienced (human trafficking), I usually turn people to Justin Scott,” Markham said. “His task force is the acronym ACT, but it’s Albany Advisory Council on Trafficking, www.aactwy. org – his is a resource for someone who’s experiencing trafficking and needs help.”

This story was published on October 2, 2024.