Looking beneath the surface

It would be naive to think human trafficking isn’t passing through Jasper County regularly on Interstate 80.

That’s why Lt. Wes Breckenridge of the Newton Police Department said he’s been educating not only local officers, but also businesses along the I-80 corridor, with materials aimed at giving the under-reported crime the attention it deserves.

“Statistics tell us it’s likely traveling out here on the I-80 corridor, it’s just a matter of being aware of it and knowing what to look for,” Breckenridge said.

Human trafficking — a form of modern-day slavery in which individuals are forced to perform sex or labor through the use of force, fraud or coercion — is a $150 billion industry globally, according to the International Labour Organization.

Every year, human traffickers generate billions of dollars in profits by victimizing millions of people in the United States and around the world. Traffickers are estimated to be exploiting 20.9 million victims, with an estimated 1.5 million victims in North America alone, according to the National Human Trafficking Resource center.

It’s believed that as many as 300,000 underage girls are being sold for sex in the U.S., and those girls are likely to enter prostitution between the ages of 12-14, after being coerced into the business.

For Linda Pierce and Lynn Keller, those staggering statistics have been haunting. The two Newton women have spent several years traveling the state learning about human trafficking as members of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church Social Action Committee.

The past several months, Pierce and Keller have spearheaded a more formal effort to raise awareness and prevent human trafficking in Jasper County. Community leaders, business owners, clergy and others came together last fall for an overview presented by Michael Ferjack, Iowa’s lead human trafficking investigator.

“Now that we have all these people on board, we’re really moving forward,” Keller said.

Keller said the local group’s action plan involves community-based awareness, working to raise awareness in schools and educating businesses within the I-80 corridor.

Business Partners

The presence of I-80 is one of the larger vulnerabilities in Jasper County, Breckenridge said.

“If nothing else, it’s potentially transporting victims to our gas stations, restaurants and hotels. It’s one of the larger factors,” he said.

Pierce said the staffs at these businesses are on the front lines and could be the first to observe something.

“Our local businesses are our partners in this,” Pierce said.

One of those businesses is Love’s Travel Stop on Interstate 80 exit 168 in Newton, where all employees are encouraged to watch a computer-based training video about human trafficking.

“We encourage all of our employees in the field at the store level to watch the video, which raises awareness about human trafficking and helps team members identify possible victims,” said Kealey Dorian, a Love’s spokesperson.

Love’s, which has 340 locations in 40 states, also has a partnership with the nonprofit Truckers Against Trafficking. TAT is in its sixth year educating members of the trucking and travel plaza industry about domestic sex trafficking. It was honored last month with a Congressional Award for its work in rescuing young women from the human trafficking networks.

Bill Brady, a trucker from New York Mills, Minn., accepted the award for the group.

Brady said the trucking industry plays a pivotal role in the fight against human trafficking.

“We’re the eyes and ears of America — we have a unique opportunity to help people” Brady said in a phone interview Thursday. “In three days I’ll cover a third of the country. If I see something that doesn’t look right I can make the call.”

Brady said it’s important for the trucking industry to take on this initiative while dispelling the myths that young women seek this profession. People need to recognize the women are being forced, he said.

The company-wide initiative between Love’s and TAT means Love’s provides space in its stores to put up Truckers Against Trafficking posters that include the national hotline help number and also distributes wallet cards with trafficking information for professional drivers to take with them, Dorian said.

“That way, if they are on the road and they see something suspicious, they immediately know where to call because they have that wallet card with the information and the hotline on it,” she said.

Love’s also participates in “coalition builds” sponsored by Truckers Against Trafficking and law enforcement which aim to further the work to raise awareness about human trafficking, Dorian said.

Meanwhile, Breckenridge said the influx of heavy traffic caused by summertime events, including race weekends at Iowa Speedway, provide an opportunity for human traffickers.

Breckenridge said Iowa Speedway had all of its staff members trained on signs of human trafficking — and how to handle suspicions of the crime — prior to the opening of the season.

Advocating for Victims

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller began addressing the issue of human trafficking in 2012 with the Human Trafficking Enforcement and Prosecution Initiative. At that time, Ferjak, senior criminal investigator with the Iowa Department of Justice, was tapped to lead the effort.

Miller gave him this objective: “Make Iowa the most hostile place in the country for human trafficking, so hostile that they would rather go around us than go through us.”

That’s exactly what Ferjak set out to do.

Ferjak testified before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary Hearing on Human Trafficking in the United States on Feb. 24. He said as he began working with human trafficking, he learned that reactions of disbelief of the victim’s stories are common and that sometimes it was the even the reason officers, prosecutors, service providers and others may not have taken the victim seriously and not investigated a matter more aggressively.

“This response is unfortunately not completely unexpected given that a national study done by Northeastern University in 2008 indicated that 75 percent of law enforcement at all levels did not believe that human trafficking was taking place in their jurisdiction,” Ferjak told the Senate committee. “I am unaware of any study that has addressed that same question more recently. However, based on anecdotal information and my own experience, I would not expect the answer to be markedly different today.

“We must change the paradigm and vocabulary to bring accurate understanding to how traffickers obtain their victims and control them. We must dispel the myth of “choice” and replace it with the truth of how victims are controlled. We must talk about prostituted people and not prostitutes; we have to stop thinking a 14-year-old can actually choose to become a prostitute and do it on their own because it simply is not possible. We must see the victims as they are — and not what the trafficker has forced upon them.”

Close to Home

“These pimps are good looking and smooth,” Pierce said. “And then once those girls are in, they are gone.”

Pierce said she often recalls an experience she had at a Newton store, where she spotted something that felt awkward before she had the knowledge of how to handle the situation.

“This woman was with a pretty shady-looking gentleman and she kept looking at me with eyes like ‘help me,’” Pierce said. “I didn’t know what to do ... I asked her if she was alright and the guy kind of pulled her away. She was this beautiful woman. Now I wonder ... if I had called police maybe she would be OK. I don’t know how many times I’ve told that story.”

Breckenridge said the National Human Trafficking Center hotline is valuable in documenting the crime. However, the best thing to do when encountering a suspicious situation is to call 911.

“The first step is calling local law enforcement so we can look into it as quick as we can to see if it’s a legitimate situation,” Breckenridge said.

Breckenridge has been tasked with visiting area businesses, hanging up posters and giving educational presentations for the group. Last week, he presented to Newton’s Noon Kiwanis group about the largest growing crime in the world.

Pimps are said to be making $150,000 to $200,000 per child, per year, Breckenridge said.

“It’s a form of modern day slavery,” Breckenridge said. “Someone is manipulated to get involved in sex or labor trafficking.”

Moreover, the victims are likely to susceptible to the crime — one of every three teenage runaways will be lured into prostitution within the first 48 hours of leaving home.

Breckenridge, who has severed on the NPD for the last 20 years, said there have been no local cases reported, yet. However, Iowa is centered between the known human trafficking hubs of Minneapolis, Omaha, Kansas and Chicago, Breckenridge said. The presence of I-80 and I-35 serve as escape routes.

“Everyone is very concerned about having a safe community,” Pierce said. “There is a sense of urgency, for me, to keep the ball rolling.”

Contact Abigail Pelzer at 641-792-3121 ext. 6530 or apelzer@newtondailynews.com