Human Trafficking Awareness posters introduced
With January proclaimed as Human Trafficking Awareness Month, Sequoyah County Commissioners approved a request from Cindy Smith who heads the Special Victims Crime Unit for the Sequoyah County Sheriff’s Office, to display posters to bring awareness to the public throughout the courthouse.
With January proclaimed as Human Trafficking Awareness Month, Sequoyah County Commissioners approved a request from Cindy Smith who heads the Special Victims Crime Unit for the Sequoyah County Sheriff’s Office, to display posters to bring awareness to the public throughout the courthouse.
Thanking the commissioners, Smith made the request on behalf of the Coordinated Community Response and Sexual Assault Response (CCR/SART) Team.
The posters include a message and phone numbers provided from the “Blue Campaign, When you can’t walk away. If you are controlled and do not have the freedom to leave, you may be a victim of human trafficking,” the poster reads.
According to the Blue Campaign, organized in 2016 to bring awareness to sex trafficking, the campaign offers tips and resources to inform and educate others about human trafficking. Blue Campaign describes human trafficking as “modern-day slavery and involves the use of force, fraud or coercion to obtain labor or commercial sex.” Every year, millions of men, women and children are trafficked in countries around the world, including the United States.
“There are different types of human trafficking including Sex Trafficking, which involves victims who are manipulated or forced to engage in sex acts for someone else’s commercial gain. Sex trafficking is not prostitution. Anyone under the age of 18 engaging in commercial sex is considered to be a victim of human trafficking. No exceptions.
“Also Forced Labor, which applies to victims who are compelled to work for little or no pay, often manufacturing or growing the products we use and consume every day; and Domestic Servitude, which applies to victims who are forced to work in isolation and are hidden in plain sight as nannies, housekeepers or domestic help.”
Smith said she appreciates all the support the CCR/SART Team has received from the commissioners in the past and present, which has helped bring awareness of the problem to Sequoyah County.
In other business, the commissioners approved a bid of $134,810 submitted by Bruckner of Tulsa for a dump truck for District 1; a grant request to be submitted by Sequoyah County Emergency Management for a FY 2022 Emergency Management Performance Grant Program; a transfer of appropriations from the Sequoyah County Assessor’s Office; and all monthly reports and blanket purchase orders.
