Human trafficking prevention efforts underway in St. Joseph area
Human sex trafficking happens all over the globe, even in the Midland Empire. This is why the St. Joseph Police Department Family Crimes Unit is taking measures to prevent, investigate and prosecute human trafficking.
There are many forms of trafficking. Sex and labor trafficking are the most common. Human trafficking is using coercion to control victims into engaging in commercial sex or labor against his or her will. Human trafficking can happen to both younger and older individuals of all genders and ethnicities.
“For us in our area, human trafficking might not look like kids being thrown into cars and transported all over the place,” said Christi Miller, president and founder of Break Every Chain. “But the main thing is that kids can be functioning every day in school, doing day-to-day things, looking normal but might be being sold for drugs or rent.”
Break Every Chain is an organization seeking to educate and prevent human trafficking in Northwest Missouri and Northeast Kansas. This organization provides educational presentations for churches, schools and other groups using programming from Stop Trafficking KC and Street Hope. This programming teaches what it looks like for a child to be groomed, or trained, and the prevention and safety measures that can be taken.
“We know that social media is a good thing, but it can also be a bad thing. We do a lot of education awareness with that,” Miller said. “So we’re not asking you take your child off social media and put them in hiding or lock them down. We are just educating community members on what trafficking looks like and how they get involved to stop that.”
Break Every Chain is partnering with the St. Joseph Police Department Family Crimes Unit. Recently, the Police Department sent two of their Family Crimes Unit investigators to training on human trafficking. Detective Sgt. Jason Strong was one of them.
Strong said he was unable to comment on whether or not there are any open cases in the area, but he did acknowledge the importance of the issue.
“You know that we got training; you know we are interested in it.”
Human traffickers target vulnerable individuals, especially teenagers. Strong learned this at his training and his unit is beginning to find new ways to get at-risk teenagers help.
“When you are meeting a need that (youths) don’t have at home, you’re reducing a vulnerability,” Miller said.
Volunteering at the food bank or being a mentor are great ways to help prevent human trafficking from occurring, Miller said.
Warning signs for youth-targeted for human trafficking*:
-
Changes in behavior
-
Disappearing for lengths of time
-
Mood swings
-
Eating disorders
-
An older person entering their life as a boyfriend, girlfriend or just a friend
-
Changes in appearance and fashion, use of makeup to look older
-
Expensive gifts provided by an older stranger
-
Unexplained injuries or bruising
-
Drug or alcohol addiction, perhaps fed by traffickers.
*These are not the only signs, but the most common.
Strong encourages everyone to say something if they see something. Call 911 in the case of an emergency or 816-271-4777 for a non-emergency situation. The National Human Trafficking Resource Center has a 24/7 hotline that you can call at 888-373-7888 or text “HELP” or “INFO” to 816-233-7333.
“They’re concerned, well I don’t want to waste anybody’s time. And, some of those incidents have turned out to be pretty big deals,” Strong said. “As it pertains to human trafficking, you don’t wanna air on the side of caution because it has real implications in children’s lives and, you know, anybody’s lives."
The human trafficking red flags*:
-
Is not free to leave or come and go as he or she wishes
-
Is fearful, anxious, depressed, submissive, tense, nervous or paranoid
-
Avoids eye contact
-
Is not in control of his or her own money, no financial records or bank account
-
Is not allowed or able to speak for themselves (a third party may insist on being present and/or translating) Answers may appear to be scripted and rehearsed
-
Has numerous inconsistencies in his or her story
-
Poor living conditions
-
Employer is holding identity documents
-
Signs of physical abuse
-
Unpaid or paid very little
-
Is in the commercial sex industry and has a pimp or a manager.
*These are not the only signs, but the most common
For more information how to get involved in preventing human trafficking, email Break Every Chain at breakeverychain58@gmail.com
Who is Missouri Welfare: Children of Disabled
Monica Dunn
ST. JOSEPH-- Blood raced to Hannah’s cheeks as the Kmart cashier explained that her Electronic Benefit Transfer card was declined. Hannah, who asked her last name not be used, was a high school junior at the time trying to buy a carton of eggs and a box of pancake mix for dinner that night.
“Anytime your card gets declined, it’s always kinda embarrassing, but when your EBT card gets declined, that’s really embarrassing,” Hannah said.
Hannah’s family qualified for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and disability benefits her junior year of high school. For the last four years of her father’s life, his diabetes and heart issues prevented him working. However, SNAP was not enough to put food on the table every day.
This is the reality for many Missouri families. According to a study released by Feeding America, 947,900 Missouri residents are food-insecure. This is 2.2 percent higher than the national average. Programs like SNAP help combat food-insecurity in households like Hannah’s, but 26 percent of food-insecure households earn too much to qualify for assistance.
When Hannah’s family uses their benefits for the month, their only option is to go to the food bank. Hannah’s family went to the Second Harvest Community Food Bank in St. Joseph.
“It was a drive-thru style, kinda. You’d give them your card, they’d see what you get and give you your box,” Hannah said.
The boxes contain milk, juice, beans, rice, peanut butter, oatmeal and a block of cheese. Because many donations to the pantries are canned food, most of what families receive are canned food. Hannah remembers eating corn frequently.
“We ate a lot of mashed potatoes and corn. Mashed potatoes and corn became a kind of like (a meal). Every weekend we would have this,” Hannah said.
To make this meal, you would add milk or water to mashed potato mix and pour canned corn on top. Although Hannah said she enjoyed eating mashed potatoes and corn, it is not a balanced meal.
“It is hard to eat healthy because it is so expensive,” Hannah’s brother Ethan, who also asked his last name not be used, said in a phone interview. “We were stuck eating dumb processed food.”
Ethan remembers eating at least three frozen Tombstone pepperoni pizzas a week. Healthy foods like milk, protein and fresh fruits and vegetables are expensive to purchase.
“I watch what I spend very closely,” Hannah said. “You learn to survive with what you have.”
Unhealthier foods are cheaper, and food-insecure families are constantly forced to sacrifice health for survival.
Second Harvest Community Food Bank works to combat this through their Fresh Mobile Pantry. The mobile pantry delivers fresh produce like potatoes, watermelon or protein to rural communities.
“Nobody knows what the face of hunger looks like,” Michelle Fagerstone, Chief Development Officer for the Second Harvest Community Food Bank, said in phone interview.
Fagerstone has been in the shoes of those she serves. Her husband lost his job unexpectedly, and her family used the food pantry while they filed for unemployment benefits and before they received them.
Hannah remembers bouncing from house to house when she would stay with her dad because he was unable to physically pay the bills.
“It was disheartening. I would go and stay with my dad and you would see how defeated he looked. Like he couldn’t afford to put food on the table by himself,” Hannah said.
Friendship is important to Hannah. For fun, Hannah would go to the mall with her best friend at the time.
“I would just kinda look at things. She would buy things, and I would just sorta give an opinion,” Hannah said.
One time, Hannah was at Dillard’s with her sister, trying on prom dresses. Hannah was a candidate for the county fair queen and needed a formal dress.
A woman came over to ask if they needed help. Hannah told her what they were looking for, while her sister took a call from her dad. Hannah’s sister mentioned their EBT card to her dad over the phone.
“I saw this switch in the women’s composure,” Hannah said. “The women goes, ‘well, I don’t know if we are going to have anything that you guys can afford,’”
Hannah was mortified. This reaction is not uncommon though, for Hannah.
“You can be in line at a grocery store …and talking to somebody, having a good time, and as soon as you pull out that EBT card, they kinda withdrawal,” Hannah said. “They’ll still kinda talk to you- it’s just like they have this pity look.”
Hannah encourages others not to treat welfare recipients differently. They are people just like everyone else.
Through welfare programs like SNAP and the Pell Grant, Hannah was able to attend college. Hannah encourages other welfare recipients not to be afraid of college. With hard work, you can accomplish your dreams, Hannah said.
“There was a point where I was working two jobs and going through school. But that’s what I had to do,” Hannah said. “If there is something you want to do, even if you’re on welfare, there is a way you can do it.”
Now, Hannah is set to graduate in the spring from the University of Central Missouri with a major in middle school education.