There’s increasing efforts to combat human trafficking with a new unit of the State Bureau of Investigation. There’s a concern the hidden crime will spike when the Republican National Convention comes to town.
There’s increasing efforts to combat human trafficking with a new unit of the State Bureau of Investigation. There’s a concern the hidden crime will spike when the Republican National Convention comes to town.
“Especially like with the RNC, just like with the NBA All-Star game or the furniture market. You’re dealing with high-end individuals who have access money,” says SBI Special Agent with Human Trafficking Unit Carl Wall.
Wall says that’s exactly the type of environment traffickers are targeting. Places like malls and college campuses, places that draw a lot of people.
“I think a lot of that has to do with our interstate system. We have one of the larges interstate systems in the nation. We’re a pass-through state.”
The SBI’s Human Trafficking unit started last year because the agency is seeing so many cases. So far, it’s just Wall in the unit. Eight more agents are in the state budget, but that’s still up in the air.
The National Human Trafficking Hotline says 287 human trafficking cases have been reported in North Carolina this year. Mostly sex and labor trafficking.
Hannah Arrowood with Present Age Ministries works with victims. She says you should be looking for things that don’t go together.
“If you see an older male with a much younger female and you can tell it’s not a father-daughter relationship,” says Arrowood.
Arrowood says social media is the number one way traffickers recruit, interact and meet young people.
If you see something that doesn’t look right, call 911 or call the National Hotline: Call 1-888-373-7888