Traffi cking Hits Home
“When I heard about human traffi cking, I always thought of the country of Lesotho in Africa,” said Dawn Reitz, a Kingfi sher, Okla., resident and Cimarron Electric Cooperative member who is helping to increase awareness about the issue in her own community. “It is a bad thing in other countries, but it happens right here in Oklahoma and a lot of people don’t have any idea it’s happening.” Reitz was awakened to the problem when she attended a few human
trafficking seminars. At one of the meetings, Jones of Crisis Aid International was speaking and she issued a charge that Reitz accepted. “She challenged us not to make this another conference we attend— but to do something,” Reitz said. At fi rst, Reitz intended to have a program at her church to share what she had learned. But the more she planned and the more she prayed, the bigger the event became. In October 2013, Kingfi sher County Against Traffi cking (K-CAT) took place with 350 in attendance. Special guests included Oklahoma Rep. Mike Sanders and Oklahoma Department of Public Safety Commissioner Michael Thompson. Miss Oklahoma Teen USA Graham Turner was the emcee. Cimarron Electric Cooperative was a sponsor and provided dinner for the K-CAT event. Reitz, a former employee of Pioneer Telephone Cooperative, owns her own quilting business, teaches quilting and advocates against hu- man traffi cking. Through her efforts she has learned the stories of several Oklahoma victims.
“One of them was 11 years old when her mom fi rst sold her to pay
a bill. In exchange for sex, her mom’s boyfriend paid their rent. Eventually, any time her mom needed money, she would sell her daughter,” Reitz said. Reitz shared another account of an Oklahoma woman, now in her 40s, who was fi rst traffi cked as a young teenager. She had gone to spend the night with a friend and her friend’s older brother took the two girls into Tulsa for the night. The girls were given drugs and traffi cked to Houston to be sexually exploited. Such stories of traffi cking by a family member or trusted acquain-
tance are quite common, Jones said. Approximately half of the girls who come to the Crisis Aid Safe Home in St. Louis, Mo., were fi rst sold by relatives. Many others are traffi cked by someone they know, a so-called friend or neighbor, because these people already have the victim’s trust.
Rescuing Victims, Saving Lives
In 2012, the state of Oklahoma recognized the need for increased involvement in anti-traffi cking efforts and created a human traffi cking task force. The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics (OBN) was mandated as the leading state investigative agency for human traffi cking. In ad- dition, the task force includes a number of law enforcement agencies: the FBI, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, the Tulsa and
Misconception: Many of the women involved in prostitution choose that lifestyle.
Truth: While some may choose to be prostitutes, traffi cking victims do not. They are forced into the lifestyle by their traffi ckers—often through abuse, drugs and threats of blackmail or violence to family members.
BREAK THE CYCLE
Dawn Reitz, a Kingfisher, Okla., resident and Cimarron Electric Cooperative member, is helping to increase awareness about the issue in her own community. In October 2013, Kingfisher County Against Trafficking took place with 350 in attendance.
Oklahoma City Police Departments, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, other local and tribal law enforcement units, and the Oklahoma and U.S. Attorney General Offi ces. “We’re here to determine what’s the problem and how to attack it.
We are going to use everything we can to combat this. It’s too impor- tant not to,” OBN director and Oklahoma Electric Cooperative mem- ber Darrell Weaver said. According to Weaver, it’s diffi cult to estimate the extent of human
traffi cking in Oklahoma because of the covert nature of the crime. “We know it’s out there because we’ve rescued several victims,”
Weaver said. “Based on drug traffi cking, we know that Oklahoma is in a geographic location that gives rise to this type of criminal activity.” Crisis Aid International has worked with the FBI and comes along side local law enforcement to identify traffi cking victims and provide assistance to those who are freed. Since 2006, they have saved 450 girls from sex slavery, including 50 in the United States and some from Oklahoma.
Once the victims have been rescued, they go to one of Crisis Aid’s
safe houses and are able to participate in a yearlong rehabilitation program including medical care, counseling and substance abuse pro- grams. While in rehab, they create a life plan with steps to achieve their goals. Some girls go back to high school or college, others get jobs, and some take the time to rest and heal. “Our goal is to save lives, save souls, and change futures,” Jones said. “Ultimately, we help the girls to reclaim their futures that have been stolen. We help them identify and manage triggers so they can move on and not be branded by the past and things that have happened to them.” Jones said one of the biggest hurdles is to gain the girls’ trust.
Oftentimes, they are brainwashed to believe their traffi cker is a loving boyfriend. They have a hard time seeing the reality of what’s
Continued on Page 22
Misconception: Many victims of human traffi cking are kidnapped by strangers.
Truth: Most victims are fi rst traffi cked by someone they trust, such as a relative, neighbor, or so-called friend. Runaway girls are also at a high risk. They are often approached by a traffi cker who will act as a “boyfriend” to gain the victim’s trust.
FEBRUARY 2015 21
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