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>> lehr: humantrafficking is a global and national concern,and yes, it is also a problem right herein greater cincinnati. hello, i'm kathy lehrand on this edition of focus a conversation about effortsto end slavery right here, right now. in 2012, the salvation armypartnered with end slavery cincinnati to expandthe resources and services available locally to addressand combat human trafficking

in our community. how big is the problemlocally? who is at risk? and how are the slaveryrings broken up? our guests today to explorethe topic: erin meyer, anti-human traffickingprogram coordinator at the salvation armyand collision manager of end slavery cincinnati; and luke blocher, director of national strategicinitiatives national

underground railroad freedomcenter. thank you both so muchfor being with us. >> thank you. >> thank you, kathy. >> lehr: what exactly ishuman trafficking? how do you define it? >> well, it can most simplybe described as modern day slavery. you know, we thinkof historic slavery,

individuals who can't, whoaren't able to leave a type of work, they are beingforced to work, they are being exploited. it is the same typeof concept when we're talking about what slaverylooks like today. some of it looks even moreto what the historic slavery looked like than othertypes. for example, we still havedomestic servitude here in cincinnati, whereindividuals are forced

to work in homes, cooking,cleaning, taking care of kids, and are not ableto leave and are not being paid for their services. we also have traffickingsuch as sex trafficking here in cincinnati, whetherthat's massage parlors, brothels, or pimp-controlledprostitution escort services you can find online. it's a problem that's hereand we see it in a variety of different forms.

generally it'sthe exploitation of men, women and childrenfor either labor or commercial sex. >> lehr: i think many peoplewould be surprised to know that it is going on righthere at home. you think about it happeningsomeplace else, some other time. what is the impact of thison our community? how big of a problem is itlocally?

>> i mean it impactseveryone whether or not we want to see it or areable to see it. it does impact us all. and in terms ofthe prevalence, there really aren't a lot of studies outthere but we do know that we're increasingly seeingreports of it, we're increasingly getting hotlinecalls to our 24 hour hotline reporting the issue. that is mainlybecause there's just

a broader awarenessof what's happening, not necessarily that allof the sudden we've got this great influxof what human trafficking of our prevalence of humantrafficking here in the greater cincinnatiarea, but i mean it's something we seeeverywhere. it's -- at nightin pimp-control prostitution but it's online on craig'slist and on back page escort ads.

it's in restaurants,in hotels either through commercial sexualexploitation hotels, or the hotel staff that areworking there who are being forced to work there and arenot being paid and are not being able to leaveor otherwise being controlled. it can be seen again likei said domestic servitude, in our factories,on our farms. just because we thinkof cincinnati as a city even

doesn't mean that we're notseeing trafficking in butler county or in warren countyor out the more rural areas in the greater cincinnatiarea. we see it across the globe,we see it across the u.s., we see it across the greatercincinnati area region just in different forms dependingon the community. but it is in manyindustries. >> i think one of the pointsthat erin made is really critical which is thatwe have our exhibit

at the freedom center iscalled invisible slavery today because the reality isthat our sort of sense of the numbers hasn't caughtup to the reality of the situationbecause the awareness is so low relatively speaking. and the reason that erin isfielding so many more hotline calls and the reasonthere's so much more reporting happening isn'ti would --e i feel pretty confident saying, believingthat it is not because this

just started, that peopleare just starting to figure out you can control peopleand exploit them and not pay them. it is that we are justfiguring out how to see it. and i say that we in sortof the general public. and the way the balancereally starts to tip in this issue is when people everyday are sort of have this top of mind. so when they see peoplein a situation

in a restaurantand something looks fishy or they see someonein a massage parlor or something like thatand something doesn't seem right, they don't seem to bein control of themselves. instead of just remarkingthat that seems weird and walking away, you say,"i'm going to call this into this hotline." and that's how allof the sudden there starts to be consequences to doingthis.

for some long this has beena really incredibly profitable and safe crimebecause there was so little awareness that it washappening. you could just do it and getaway with it. and the tide is startingto turn there, but it's a lot more work to be donewith raising the general public's level of awarenessof what this looks like and what you should do whenyou have some suspicions about it.

and that's a big partof what we're both involved in, but also lots of peoplearound the country are involved in. >> lehr: i was going to say,tell me a little bit more about your relationshipwith the salvation army and working toward banishinghuman trafficking. >> well, i'll just sayfrom the freedom center perspective we have a veryclose partnership with erin, with end slavery cincinnati,and the salvation army,

around this idea of publicawareness. we've partnered throughoutthis entire calendar year to have a monthly seriesevery third thursday at the freedom center at 6p.m. we have an event which ismeant to raise public awareness around this, therewill be a film showing or a lecturer or a paneldiscussion covering the different varietyof forms this takes that erin mentioned.

talking about what it lookslike here in cincinnati, but also talking about howit looks around the world. and through that processwe're really trying to make this get -- bubbleto the surface of people's awareness of what'shappening in this community so that it's something thatisn't like you mentioned, kathy, simply some conceptthat exists overseas or in some sort of academicinterest. it's a real challenge thatwe've got to confront here.

>> lehr: who's mostat risk? >> i would say a traffickercan be anyone and a trafficking victim can beanyone. kind of pulling off whatluke was saying with educatingthe community, the more you know about who isat risk, who could be a trafficker, how you can identify it, how you can avoid it, avoidbeing victimized, the more you can report those crimes,the more you can prevent it

in our communityas a whole. we, in additionto our training events every third thursday, we alsooffer free trainings to the community, any community group can apply online on our websiteand sign their group up for an informational sessionor a training or presentation or requesta speaker so that they can bringthe education of human trafficking to their group,to their community, so that

they know what are the signsand what to report. and again, that helps expandpreventing who might be at risk. so most studies thatinvestigate what sex trafficking looks likeand who is at risk when we talk about sextrafficking, run away and homeless youthare probably the biggest when we're talking about sextrafficking. the average age of entryinto prostitution

in the united states is 13. that means that the averageindividual who is being exploited through commercialsex started when they were in middle school. and as a 13 year old you'renot making that decision on your own. life situation, individualsin your environment are influencing you be makingthat decision or are forcing you into that situation.

and so, when we're talkingabout who is at risk, run away and homeless youth,individuals who feel that they don't have otherresources, there aren't people whothey can reach out to for help or that you knowthat their families have abandoned or they don't feel that those individuals area support service for them any more -- or supportgroup. they are at risk whensomeone comes along

and says, "hey, you know,i can love you, you can be a part of my family. we can make money together;we can do what you wanted to do." two weeks from then, "if you really love me, you'd godance for me. if you really love me you'dhave sex with this friend of mine for money." and it goes on and on as that exploitationbuilds and those individuals get forced into the lifeand then their life becomes

a very different story dayby day on the streets in pimp-controlprostitution. but also, foreign nationalswhen we're talking about labor traffickingor sex trafficking. anybody who is vulnerablein any way, which let's face it we all are. so traffickers are reallyjust out there preying on individuals'vulnerabilities. when we're talkingabout labor trafficking,

the chronically unemployedwhich in this economy is a larger number than maybeat other points in our history. someone maybe offersyou a job, seems a little bit risky but you're willingto take that risk because you need that moneyto support your family. and then you continue to getexploited even further and you find yourselfin a labor trafficking situation.

it can be anyoneand traffickers know that and prey on eachindividual's vulnerabilities. >> kathy, i think that'sthe really -- erin really summarized the key pointwhich is that the fundamental profileof a successful human trafficker is someone whocan see vulnerability and then prey onif and figure out how to exploit it.

whether that is someone whohas emotional vulnerability or whether it is someone whohas financial resource vulnerability or someonethat's in the instance of a foreign national whohas sort of a legal vulnerability. they figure out what thatperson's vulnerability is and they figure out howto exploit it so that they control that personfor their own profit. and that's -- that'sunfortunately a time less

story of human history. i mean that kindof activity, that kind of motivation has expanded,has been going on since we've been around. now that's a prettydepressing fact, but there's inspirational good factaside to that which is there have been people who we liketo call abolitionists who have been fighting this thatentire time. and we can feel, you know,what we're doing today, what

somebody who sort of takesthe stands is i'm not going to let slavery existin my community any more. that's a really heroic thingto do on its own, but it's also truly followingin heroic historic footsteps. you really are doingthe same type of thing that the fred o'douglassof the world were doing. the harriet tubmansof the world were doing. and i think that's certainlyan important message that

we try to share as muchas we can because people should feel proud of whatthey are doing if they are standing up for this. they should feel empowered. and i think even maybe mostimportantly survivors should feel empowered to know thatnot only are they sort of taking controlof their own life, but when they take controlof their own life they are helping other people takecontrol of their own life

just like fred o'douglasand harriet tubman did. i mean those were survivorsof slavery who then went on and changed the entirecountry's perception of that issue. and that's the same kindof thing that i believe. people who sort of takinga stand today are doing, people who are particularlysurvivors who say i'm not satisfied taking backcontrol of my own life, which is an incredibleachievement.

it shows incrediblecourage. but beyond that they say,i want to go out and help other people escape thissituation. and there are thousandsof those people around the country who are leadingorganizations, who we interact with themin our event series from time to time. people who say, "not only ami out, but i'm going to help other people get out.

i'm going to help otherpeople be saved." and so those are reallyheroic stories that should get lifted up even morein the public conscience. >> lehr: when you talkabout these stories of people, you know, goingon for days, weeks, months, we're talking years like howlong in some cases? >> it really does dependon the situation. i know you know we've heardcases where individuals were being exploited for 10, 15years in the sex trade

by the same or sometimesdifferent traffickers. you know that actual age oldselling of victims can happen in pimp-controlprostitution particularly one pimp sells a victimto another pimp. and so in sex traffickingalone it can be 10-15 years, but labor trafficking it isthe same. we particularly againif we're talking about a domestic servitudesituation, when i used to work on the nationalhotline we got a lot

of different callsparticularly related to domestic servitude. and many of those situationsthe victims had been being exploited for again, 10, 15years. and some of that wasbecause they were exploited in their home country firstand then brought over legally under legalwork visas to work in the home. but then were even furtherexploited here in the united

states, not able to talkto anyone, not able to get clothes. there was one situationwhere it was a seasonal climate where it would bewinter, summer, and one of the methods of controlsthe trafficker used was not to not allow that worker,that domestic servant to get any new clothesfor the whole time she was there. i believe she was therefor about seven or eight

years and so she didn't havea winter coat, she didn't have lighter summerclothing. she had just what she camein on and that was all. >> lehr: do they understandthey are being, in some cases maybe they don't evenunderstand that they are being forced intoservitude? do they know? >> again, when we're talkingabout some of the different vulnerability factors.

we mentioned some, lukeand i, but cultural acceptance of practice isalso one. when we're talkingabout domestic servitude in many cultures aroundthe world class diversity is still very well accepted. and but in general evenoutside of that most -- many victims again don't feellike they are being victimized or feel thatthey are being victimized but don't feel that thereare other options or other

people that can help. when we were talkingabout vulnerabilities in labor traffickingwith foreign nationals many don't speak english whenthey are in this country, so maybe don't feel likethere's anybody they can reach out to. law enforcement maybe isn'ta trustworthy entity in their home country,so they don't feel that they can connectwith the police here.

and so, feel that this isjust the way their life is going to be because there'snot going to be anybody who can help them out. same on sex trafficking. we talked about youthor individuals who feel that society have disregardedthem, so why would they think thatwhen they are going to reach out for help somebody'sgoing to treat them with the respect thatthey deserve and offer them

the support that they needto get out of the situation? in many cases that's notwhat happens. >> lehr: who arethe traffickers? are they members generallyfrom our community? are they people from outthere? >> everybody, membersfrom our community, a lot of people just likethey think that trafficking happens outside of the u.s.

>> lehr: out theresomewhere. >> many folks think that itis only gangs or organized crime, and i mean, you knowgang members and organized crime are business so they are going to go and have human traffickingas well as drug trafficking and arms traffickingand other businesses that they work, the industriesthey work in. but it is not just the gangmembers. many of the situations thati have seen particularly

with labor trafficking,domestic servitude, restaurants and hotels, it is mom and pop shops, individuals who, familyowned business and they are exploiting their staffeither they recruited from their home countryso it felt like a safe place to work and then again they are bringing peopleinto a situation where they don't knowthe language, they don't know if there's anybodythey can trust.

and they feel likethey should be trusted, maybe this is the onlyplace, this is the way it works in the u.s. and when we're talkingabout pimp-control prostitution and sextrafficking, we have a vision of what a pimp isbut anybody can be a trafficker. we see all races, allgenders, well both genders. all different diverse groupswho are exploiting others

either in sex traffickingand labor trafficking. >> lehr: i know the polarisproject recently came out with a report that rankedohio and kentucky in the top 32 states when it comesto proactively going after the people who abuse otherslike the human traffickers. what is new when it comesto new legislation in ohio that better protectsthe victims? >> well, h b 130 is a newhouse bill that is actually up for vote, so for folkswho want to take action

and contact their senator,it passed the house and it is up for votein the senate. what it would do in termsof new legislation is expand on what the legislation isthat already exists and make it up to kind of the federalpar. so, advancing opportunitiesfor victim services and advancing prosecutionfor johns or purchasers of commercial sex, it iscall the end demand act. and many of the provisionsare geared toward making it

easier for law enforcementto arrest, prosecute, and have higher penaltiesfor those that purchase commercial sexfrom particularly minors or those with developmentaldisabilities. but it also expands the lawto just kind of overall support victims and victims'rights. >> you know it'san important fact to mention, kathy, thatthe kind of legislative activity that erin isdescribing is still

relatively new. it was only 2008 whenyou think about this at the first law againsthuman trafficking specifically was passedin ohio. that's correct, right. up until that timeto actually really correctly prosecute this you hadto cobble together some other things thatapproximated what was being done and that first law wasonly a really just

a starting point and itreally said we need to study this. it was only five years ago. so we're really stilltaking, i don't know if it is fair to just call thembaby steps, but we're really at the beginning of what hasto be a longer process for this. and i think the biggest stepthat still is yet to come is the real commitmentof resources to specifically

law enforcement activityagainst this. and i think right nowthe reality is this issue has a lot more attentionin popular culture. it has a lot more attentionin the political culture. there are laws beingpassed. there are major commitmentsbeing made at sort of a high level. but those aren't necessarilyfiltering down to the activity of a policedepartment, sheriff's

office, federalinvestigators. it is not taking -- it's notbeing the priority that i would argue it deservesfor the scale of the problem. i think the next step thathas to happen for this really to be meaningfullyaddressed in our state and around the countryis to really devote significantly more resourcesto the actual investigation and prosecution and arrestof traffickers.

because until that happensit is you're sort of, you know, i wouldn't sayyou're whistling into the wind, you're really hamstringing the folks like erinand other folks who are really in the trenchesreally trying to do something about this. and i think there's a bigstep that has to happen. we should be very happyand proud of how far we've come, but i think we needto be very unsatisfied

in the bigger pictureabout where we are. >> lehr: you mention thathad a lot of people trapped in this life. the ones that do get outshare with us the success story. >> there are manyand there's many successes on the daily. so clients that we interactwith who get their first job or who have their firstapartment for their own

or get custody backof their children who were taken away from them whilethey were being trafficked. so many of those dailysuccesses in people's individual lives. one of the more broadlypublicized success stories that is affiliated with endslavery cincinnati is the family of the --the story of the desozas family which is a family from india who came here and wereexploited, they were

trafficked in a restaurantboth the husband and the wife and to somedegree their children as well. both were educated in india,had the equitant of masters degrees on college degrees,bachelor's degrees and were forced to workin a restaurant and being exploited long hours,no breaks, not being paid and being threatened. in that particular storymore information about that

could be foundon our website, but since they left their situationthey were able to obtain visas so they could stay in this country, they have obtainedjobs, they have got their own place,their children are going to school and have receivedseveral honors and awards from their successin school. and have -- they have justreally been enjoying their life herein the united states

and have been doing reallywell. >> lehr: share with us somesigns that something might be going on, somebody mightbe a victim of human trafficking suchas in the sex industry. what are some warningsigns? >> there are a lot outthere. and actually many of themare very similar for both labor and sex trafficking. so the biggest onefor the bystander who

doesn't have the opportunityto interact with that victim is does that person appearto be under the control of someone else? so, and you think thatthings that seems like kind of a no-brainer indicator,but it can sometimes be hard to see but if you lookfor it you can find it. so, if in the sextrafficking industry particularly pimp-controlprostitution, many purchasersof commercial sex want

to purchase commercial sexunder the facade that this is, they have money,they want sex, these women have a body and want money. so it is this simpleexchange. they don't want to seesomebody controlling them. and so pimps usually stayin the background or will walk behind not actuallyinteracting directly with the victim oftentimes. but you can see itif you look for it you see

someone kind of hoveringaround, maybe shouting at people around themor just generally very observant as to what isgoing on. in a labor traffickingsituation where we see frequently in ohio travelingsales crews, kids or young adults who are sellingmagazines subscriptions, candy, whatever it might bedoor to door. not every traveling salescrew is a trafficking network but there can bea lot of vulnerability

for exploitation in thosenetworks and we do see trafficking in thosenetworks. many times on both the localand the national hotline we receive calls from peoplewho their door was knocked on and someone offeredto sell them a magazine. but they ask simplequestions, "are you thirsty? are you hungry? how long have you beenworking today?

who are you working for?"if they don't know who they are working for, whatthe money goes to, they said they haven't eaten today,they are hot, they don't know where they are sleepingtonight, they don't know what townthey are in, all of those suggest that somebody elseis pulling the strings somebody else is makingthose decisions for them. and so that could bean indicator that there could be exploitation goingon.

again those are just broadindicators. there are some that are morein-depth that can you get from asking questions,getting a better understanding do they havecontrol of their documents? are they getting paid? are they able to leavetheir work situation or their relationshipif they want to? do they feel like they can? those are all indicatorsyou might be able to get

by asking questions,but even just observing you can usually geta general sense that somethingas luke was mentioning before, something fishy isgoing on and it is worth reporting, even if you don'tknow. it is always worth reportingbecause the hotline operators who answer cantalk you through, ask those questions, getthe information they need. and if it is a situationwhere you may interact

with that individual again,maybe help guide you in other informationto look for or other questions to ask if it issafe to do so, obviously. >> and that's a reallyimportant point i want to under score isthe hotline exists not just for someone to call and say,"i'm absolutely certain, i saw this thing and there'sno question about it, it is human trafficking." it is for people to callwith something they see that

is suspicious. and the great thing about itis it is collecting calls from all over the countryand all over our region. and you can then see trendsand see if you get a bunch of calls about a certainlocation, then that's a reason to investigatefurther. so i think it isan important message to the broader publicto think of that in the broadest senseof what i should bother

to report, which isanything. >> lehr: erin, your bestadvice to somebody who might be watch this program whomight be a victim. >> call the hotline. we're available 24 hoursa day. find a way to calland we can connect that person with resources,we provide crisis interventions, we can comepick folks up in a safe environment or connectwith others to make sure it

is a safe situation. help get shelter, food,clothes, counseling, respond to the varietyof the different needs this individual might needand work with them to create a case management planfor recovery. and so that person can beliving an independent life the way they want to be. so anybody who is exploitedor you think you are in contact with somebody whomight be exploited, call

the hotline. we're getting -- whenwe first started may 2012 we were getting an averageof 10-15 calls a month. now we're getting closerto 60 and 70 in just a year's span. so you can imagine,you know, that goes to the prevalence or greaterunderstanding and greater awareness of what's goingon. but it is just moreand more.

and the more you callthe more we can connect people with the resourcesthey need. >> lehr: moving forward, areyou pleased with what are you seeing so far? are you pleasedwith response overall from the communityfrom our legislators? >> definitely. as luke said, there'sdefinitely room for growth but it has been as luke alsosaid there is definitely

an opportunity for everyoneto engage and for everyone to beworking to combat this issue and we're seeing thatfrom all, from high school students, from judgesand attorneys, anyone has the opportunityto get involved just by getting educated,reporting, educating their community. the more people knowabout it the more we can report it.

it is not just lukeand i who are working on this issue. there are so many others outin the community who are engaging with us, engagingwith our coalition to connect so that we canhave a broad community response, including lawenforcement. there is a lot to go when itcomes to law enforcement but we have a lotof officers who are very dedicated to the issueand are investigating more

and more every day. >> lehr: erin, luke, thankyou so much for your time today. >> lehr: it's not somethingthat's happening out there, it's happening right hereat home. >> yes. >> lehr: for moreinformation about end slavery cincinnati, visittheir website at endslaverycincinnati.org.

if you would like to reporta human trafficking situation, connectwith referrals, or are in need of crisisintervention please dial the greater cincinnati humantrafficking hotline at 513-800-1863. for more informationabout the national underground railroad freedomcenter, please visit their website atfreedomcenter.org. you may also call themat 877-648-4838.

finally, to watch thisand other focus episodes again on demand, you can doso at our website cetconnect.org/focus. thank you for watching. i'm kathy lehr and we'll seeyou next time right here on focus. >> tell us what you thinkabout the programs we air or let us know if you wouldlike to see a particular topic on focus.

there are several ways canyou contact us: you can send your commentsby e-mail to focus@cetconnect.org;you can call us at 513-345-6522;or you can write to us at focus, care of andrew dahman, 1223 central parkway, cincinnati, ohio, 45214. any use or rebroadcastof this copy written program or portions thereof isprohibited without the expressed writtenapproval of cet.

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