By Alexandra Golder
Intern
Advocates for victims of human trafficking are seeing signs that the problem is growing in the Wilmington area and said during an event Wednesday, March 30 that more help is needed from the community to change the perceptions of this crime.
“The community is failing at victim identification,” said Lindsey Roberson, a private attorney and former prosecutor of the New Hanover County District Attorney’s office who now serves as a victim advocate. “If we can’t identify the victims, we fail at prosecuting.”
Roberson said there is an increasing need for local resources to help victims, from assisting them in court to assisting in rebuilding their lives.
Human trafficking occurs when a person is sold for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. Though they can be of both genders, the victims are more often females, and are increasingly underage, advocates said during the Cape Fear Community College panel discussion.
The extent of the problem in Wilmington is unknown, though advocates said they are seeing more cases. Wilmington’s expansive tourism industry and easy access to highways make the city a vulnerable area for human trafficking, advocates said. The FBI ranks North Carolina as eighth in the country for states where human trafficking is likely to occur.
“A majority of the cases and victims of human trafficking in Wilmington, over 50 percent, are native to Wilmington,” Roberson said. “This is something most people don’t realize.”
Nationwide, human trafficking has surpassed gun trafficking to become the second-most profitable illegal industry behind drugs, as it is estimated that a girl can be sold 15 to 40 times in a single night.
Human trafficking differs from prostitution in that there is someone behind the scenes, commonly known as a pimp, who orchestrates meetings and profits from the illegal activity. Trafficking is active online, with the recruitment of young girls through social media and the placement of online advertisements. Being located in a coastal state, where people frequently visit for vacations and business trips, is one reason why trafficking is a growing business in Wilmington, Roberson said.
“The supply goes to where the demand is,” said Sgt. Bill Woolf of the Northern Virginia Human Trafficking Tack Force.
A common characteristic among victims is sexual abuse, with statistics that 80-90 percent of victims have suffered sexual abuse before being exploited. Roberson noted that the biggest risk factor is girls that come from a single-parent home.
“Victimology begins at a young age and the pimps reinforce it,” Roberson said.
Woolf described the methods that traffickers employ when recruiting victims in three steps: scouting, manipulation and trafficking.
“Traffickers are master manipulators,” Woolf said, “and online, they believe they’re anonymous.”
Woolf cites the amount of personal information placed online as the way traffickers are able to learn about victims ahead of time. It becomes easy for traffickers to stage a run-in at a public place, such as a mall, and for them to start a conversation once they have collected information. It is through the collected information that traffickers gain the trust of victims.
“If the public is not educated on this process, it can basically go unknown,” Woolf said. “Starting the conversation empowers victims to come forth.”
