Monday Police Chief Michael Kelly said human trafficking and sex slavery is happening all over even in Columbia. The investigation into Operation Dollhouse made that very clear when four individuals were arrested and three others were issued citations. Sitting in his office, Kelly shared the dangers of human trafficking and sex slavery.
“Parents need to realize this is no longer a big city problem. This is real and happening in broad daylight right here in Columbia,” Kelly said.
Kelly said people do not recognize this is a new world now and what is seen in the movies is not what is actually happening. He said he feels parents really need to be educated on the matter.
“It is not the white van in the grocery store parking lot or 30 women gagged and chained in the basement. People need to get those conceptions out of their heads,” he said.
With the world increasingly connected by social media, parents do not realize the predators and criminals are slipping into their homes, Kelly said. When a preteen girl is wide awake and posts a picture at 2 a.m. on social media saying “Can’t sleep, hit me up,” the girl is unknowingly opening the door to allow a sexual predator into the home through social media. The predator will start a relationship just by talking back and forth through the various social media messaging apps.
“These predators are literally inside your home while you are sleeping and on your kid’s cellphone,” Kelly said.
It is through those messages Kelly said that the predator grooms the children and plays on their feelings and insecurities.
“It is an awful term to say, but there is a market for 13- to 14- year-old girls. Predators are doing everything they can through social media to manipulate them,” Kelly said.
Once the seed has been planted, a few months later young women are surfing the “dark” web looking at pages that are sickening, Kelly said. Once a young woman is taken in by the “dark” web, a predators will groom her for weeks until she is ready to leave the security of her home and enter into the world of human trafficking and sex slavery.
Human trafficking and sex slavery are lucrative businesses that street gangs are getting more and more involved with. Kelly said the drug trade is still in high demand, but that human trafficking and sex slavery are real money makers.
“A street dealer once they are out of drugs, they have to put themselves in danger and go and buy more drugs to sell; whereas, with human trafficking and sex slavery, they keep all of the profits plus the victim(s),” Kelly said.
In the world of drugs, an issue he has also seen is when drug addicts solicit their young daughters for sex to feed their habit.
Kelly said these types of criminals are choosing small communities instead of the larger cities because they believe law enforcement are uneducated and less staffed, creating more opportunity for them to be successful. He also said they believe the population in the communities are less likely to realize what is happening right in front of them.
All is not doom and gloom, though. Kelly said there are steps parents can take to protect their children. One of them is being a parent to the child and not their best friend.
He said it is important that parents educate their children on the dangers lurking out there, especially with social media. Regularly look at the children’s cellphones; investigate what the children are looking at and read the messages, Kelly advises.
Kelly recommended if a teenager has a journal, read it. It is important to know what the thoughts of the teenagers are in order to address issues of concern. He said parents need to know what is going on in their children’s lives.
Kelly said the most important thing is to lift up your children. He said to build a foundation early on with reassurance.
“Tell them you love them. Tell them they are beautiful. Tell them you will protect them,” he said.
If parents provides the love and security the children need and crave, the children will have no need to seek that elsewhere, Kelly said.
