January is National Human Trafficking Awareness month, drawing attention to a subject we need to be mindful of year-round.
To that end, RTC hosted an unveiling of their new wrapped bus on Friday, in support of spreading awareness of and ultimately ending human trafficking.
Mariluz Garcia, Washoe County Commissioner for District 3, helped allocate the funds to wrap the bus.
She says the biggest message she wants everyone to get out of this unveiling is that we're all in this together to try and stop human trafficking.
“Even if you have an inkling or suspicion that something's wrong or something's happening, it's on all of us to help report these incidences,” said Garcia.
Melissa Holland, the Co-Founder and CEO of Awaken says we're among the top localities in the nation for human trafficking, and says it doesn't help that our area advertises sex work and brothels.
"In 2011, when Awaken first started, all the advertisement we saw was for brothels and strip clubs," said Holland. "They were on taxi toppers. They were in the airports, and now we see a new type of imagery to bring awareness to the victims. So, as the community has gotten educated, they’ve also decided we need to change imagery around this and that’s come in the form we see today with the wrap around the RTC bus.”
“This is one of the fastest criminal enterprises in the world today and we’re not exempt from that,” Holland adds.
The Washoe County Sheriff's Office says Human Trafficking is a huge issue running rampant throughout our community.
“It means we are publicly coming out and saying human sex trafficking is not allowed, that we don’t stand for it, that we want to help those victims because for so long these victims, we know they’re out there, they felt helpless and now with this big statement on a bus driving through our community it’s letting those victims know that there is help out there, that the community is willing to help and that we stand there to help them," said Washoe County Sheriff Darin Balaam.
Sheriff Balaam says human trafficking is one of those crimes where if you don't know what to look for then you may overlook it. He says, 80% of those being trafficked will end up incarcerated. So he says if they can identify the victims, it will make a difference.
"What traffickers will do is try to isolate them," said Sheriff Balaam. "They’ll try to pull them away from their family, their friends. So if you see someone who’s showing signs of being timid, they’re showing signs that they’re withdrawing from everybody, all their normal activities, all of a sudden they're not doing them. If you see the younger kids act in sexual ways that are not appropriate for their age, that’s when you should start asking 'what's going on here?'”
Regarding the bus wrap, Sheriff Balaam says “It brings awareness. It lets our victims know that we’re out there and we’re here to help. And it lets the predators know that we know they’re there and we’re coming after them.”
Sheriff Balaam says the WCSO's victims advocate program has helped 333 victims, and 71 of those victims in 6 weeks in the jail have said their trafficker has used public transport to move them around.
“The bus wrap itself is very powerful. When you look at the image, it’s just gut wrenching to know that we have so many people, so many members of our community, that are suffering, and they’re suffering in silence," Garcia adds. "They’re stuck in circumstances where they’re being abused, they're living in fear and being victimized and experiencing a tremendous amount of trauma.”
Everyone we spoke to agrees that coming together is the solution to the issue.
If you'd like to learn more about Awaken you can click the link here. Also, if you see something unusual you can always call 911 or the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888
