Human Trafficking Exists in Athens: What are you going to do about it?
By Meaghan Raab
Trevor Bramblett, University of Georgia student, has a desire to share what he has learned about human trafficking to anyone who will listen with the hope that they will then join the fight to end human trafficking and modern day slavery. Wanting to help those entrapped in human trafficking and modern day slavery, he co-founded the End It Movement at Georgia to help fight this serious global problem.
“I woke up one morning with like a dream, like a literal dream, and then decided to pursue that and just like went for it with amazing people here at UGA,” said Bramblett.
Human trafficking is the third largest international crime industry in the world behind illegal drugs and arms trafficking with a profit of about $32 billion annually. Human trafficking is illegally transporting people using force or coercion for the purpose of sexual servitude and exploitation or forced labor.
Atlanta is one of the largest human trafficking cities in the country as well as the world. The National Human Trafficking Hotline released a research compilation of the top 100 most populous cities in the United States, in which they combined their data from Dec. 7, 2007 to Dec. 31, 2016, and Atlanta was ranked seventh in total number of calls and total number of cases.
Athens, Georgia, where the University of Georgia is located, is only about 72 miles from Atlanta, and has a human trafficking problem of its own. Sergeant Chris Parker of the Athens Clarke County Police Department says the problem has migrated to Athens because Atlanta is “too hot.”
Athens Police Proactive in Fight Against Human Trafficking
Three or four cases of human trafficking are reported each year in the Athens area and usually only after someone outside the situation hears about it and reports it. By Georgia state law, something can be called human trafficking if the person is under 18 and being prostituted, and with or without coercion or force. If the person is over 18 there needs to be some type of force or control for it to be labeled human trafficking.
“It happens more than we know unfortunately. These are underreported crimes. All sexual assaults are under-reported crimes. They are hard to deal with because a lot of times, even the 13 or 14 year olds we see don’t see themselves as victims and don’t want to talk to us,” said Parker.
Some reasons for underreporting these cases are self blame, drug or alcohol addiction, domestic violence relationships, real or perceived violence, and the victim knowingly committing crimes.
Parker is implementing a project called SARA, which stands for “scan, analyze, response, assessment” in the hopes to be more proactive about fighting human trafficking.
“You just sit back and are reactive all the time to these cases, waiting for them to come in, and then you try to work them and make the arrests,” said Parker.
Parker, the police department, and the GBI created a sting operation in 2016 to catch four traffickers in the act. They purposefully planned this event around a football gameday. The GBI posted ads online and called around pretending to be 13-year-olds. They would go to an Ingles or somewhere similar where the agents would be waiting to take the guys in. After seeing the ads online, the traffickers would show up at the location looking to pick up their next victim. In this particular sting operation, the four guys were taken in and questioned, and their electronic devices were searched.
Another proactive project, Parker’s SARA project, suggests setting up an action plan with local businesses, such as hotels and motels, that nationally have a reputation of having human trafficking occurring within their establishment. He provides each business with a list of red flags for which the staff should be on the lookout. The Cottage, sexual assault center and children’s recovery center, helped by placing brochures and pull-tab flyers in places where people can see them. The flyers provide a phone number to call for help in any situation that seems suspicious.
Businesses and schools have been reluctant to report any suspicious activity because they don’t want their name associated with human trafficking and want to avoid the negative repercussions that would follow, says Parker.
The warning signs, particularly seen at cheap, extended-stay motels, include children or teenagers who are on their own or who are not allowed to speak, children with prepaid credit cards, and children or teenagers who are bruised, battered, or dressed inappropriately.
Anyone can become a victim of human trafficking. The traffickers are not looking for any person specifically, they simply are looking for someone they can sell or exploit. Although girls are more commonly trafficked, it is also happening to boys.
According to Parker, human trafficking typically follows big events like Comic-Con or the Super Bowl. In an SEC college town where football is a big deal, human trafficking is happening in this area as well. Blending in with the large crowds helps mask the perpetrators of this crime from the public.
UGA Takes A Stand
UGA recently placed flyers in bathrooms, locker rooms, and hallways asking if you or someone you know is being held against their will for sexual acts or forced labor with no way of leaving. The flyer provides the numbers for the National Human Trafficking Resource Center and the Statewide Georgia Hotline for Domestic Minor Trafficking.
Student organizations like the End It Movement and Breaking the Shackles take a different approach to combating human trafficking by focusing on raising awareness on campuses across the country through the use of social media, events, and advocates. Bramblett got involved with the End it Movement through his church, which played a part in launching this movement, and continued his work with the group at UGA.
“End It Movement is a grassroots movement of people from all walks of life and all parts of life and every part of the world to raise awareness for and raise money for combating modern day slavery, which is forced labor, labor trafficking, and sex trafficking,” said Bramblett.
To Bramblett, awareness is possibly the most important thing, because one can’t fight a problem if he or she doesn’t even know it’s a problem. Being educated about this issue is the first step to eradicating the problems that exist in Athens, as well as around the world. Two of the End It Movement’s biggest messages are that every voice matters and each person has a role in fighting human trafficking.
“Let’s say a million people, each who really don’t believe that their voice matters as far as fighting sex trafficking and modern day slavery goes, that’s a million people that thought that someone else’s voice was better than theirs and so nobody spoke up. But if a million people all believe that their voices matter and that they may not be able to do everything, but they can do something, then suddenly you have a million freaking people who contributed $15 to an awareness event on their campus to fight modern day slavery and sex trafficking,” said Bramblett.
Preston Berger, University of Georgia student, is the co-president of Breaking the Shackles, another organization fighting human trafficking at UGA. Breaking the Shackles is a non-profit organization that works with other charities and organizations. The goals of this organization are to “raise awareness, raise funds, and mobilize college students to create change.” At UGA this looks like hosting events every month and spreading the word through social media.
“We want to mobilize college students to fight trafficking for their rest of their lives. Because if this is just a fad, if this is just something that you’re invested in for four years, then that’s not going to last. This will never be eradicated if it’s only four years at a time that people are interested,” said Berger.
Berger plans on staying involved with Breaking the Shackles after college as a member of the board of the national organization. He says he will donate his own money to organizations who are fighting human trafficking where they are and doing whatever they can do to help because he believes in what they are doing.
Everybody can do something to help fight human trafficking, because according to Berger “anything can be started where your feet are.” You can use any platform you have to raise awareness and promote change so that one day everyone in bondage and modern day slavery can be free, and this problem will be eradicated once and for all.
