All of the approximately 150 city employees in Macomb recently underwent training that could help them spot cases of human trafficking.
“Exploitation is a low-risk, high-profit crime,” said Carol Merna, Chief Executive Officer for the Peoria-based Center for Prevention of Abuse.
Merna led the training sessions held at city hall.
“We know that it is a dominant crime in the whole country, including right here in Macomb and McDonough County and even beyond,” Merna said.
The Center originally served a 46-county region in central Illinois. But Merna said they’ve grown even beyond that large geographic area.
According to Merna, human trafficking is the second-largest crime in the world, trailing only drug trafficking. She said 28 million people are trafficked globally and it happens in all parts of the U.S. She said it “most certainly” happens in communities where there are universities because college students can be vulnerable and traffickers look for vulnerable people.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security also says human trafficking can happen in any community and victims can be any age, race, gender, or nationality. The department calls it an underreported crime.
Merna said the Center for Prevention of Abuse trains healthcare employees, first responders, hospitality workers, and fraternal organizations. They’ve even developed a curriculum for high school students.
She said communities are better positioned to stop trafficking when they know more about it and what to look for:
- Someone who is controlling another person
- Someone who has outward signs of abuse
- Someone who doesn’t have their documents because they’ve been taken away
- Someone who is giving scripted responses or has a heightened emotional response
- Signs that something is wrong
“We train communities, whole communities of municipal workers, to look for these things, to have the eyes and ears on the community,” Merna said.
Workers and residents could encounter someone exhibiting these signs just about anywhere — at work, church, or in the neighborhood. And Merna said the person committing the crime could be just about anyone — a sibling, neighbor, or teacher — somebody who you do not expect.
She said according to the FBI, less than 1% of human trafficking involves abduction by a stranger.
Brainwashing, mental manipulation, exploitation, threats of physical harm, coercion, and gaslighting are methods used by traffickers.
Merna said the oldest client they have on file so far was 65.
The youngest was six.
“It’s tragic to believe that this happens to our young people. But one in three victims of human trafficking is a child,” she said.
According to the Center, trafficked children are predominantly between the ages of 12 and 17.
Merna said in this region they see more sex trafficking than labor trafficking, but nationally the levels of both are about the same. However, labor trafficking is on the rise, so her organization is in the process of hiring a labor trafficking specialist.
She said people can reach out to the Center for Prevention of Abuse for more information about human trafficking.
Macomb Mayor Mike Inman said city employees are out among the public daily, whether it’s at city hall or somewhere else in the community, so he feels it’s important for all city workers to receive the training.
He said city workers told him they found it valuable.
“Their awareness is already heightened leaving this thinking, maybe this is real and we need to be more tuned in,” Inman said.
He thinks all municipalities – large and small – could benefit from the training. He said it could become annual training for city workers in Macomb.
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