11/23/2020
OWOSSO – FBI States 24 Students In Owosso Are Involved In Human Trafficking. You may say “Human Trafficking happens in 3rd world countries, in Flint, Detroit & Las Vegas but not here.” However Michigan State Police Trooper Amy Belanger told those assembled for a Human Trafficking discussion, Wednesday, at Owosso High School that it happens everywhere including right here in our county. Other towns and villages aren’t exempt from this problem but they were in Owosso to talk about Owosso so the focus for the talk was here.
Frightening stats; Michigan is number two in the United States in Human Trafficking. The average age of a recruited person is 12-13. Only 3% of the victims are kidnapped while 62% are tricked in by someone they know and 35% are brought in by their own family.
Trooper Belanger emphasized the need of parents to take more of an interest in their children’s lives as well as to monitor their children’s social media and phones. Trooper Belanger stated that we should check our children’s phones and if they have the ap KIK Delete it for it is a dangerous ap that kids are using.
“We need to bring our children up into the reality of what this world is and not in what we wish it was.” Stated Trooper Kramer.
We were informed that a trafficker or recruiter does not look like the old stereo type of a pimp, remember the old 1980 movie Super Fly? Instead in today’s world the trafficker or recruiter will not stand out but will look like an average person. A sobering statistic is that in as little as 8 minutes a child can be recruited. Many are runaways but even students in Middle and High Schools are targeted.
We were told that Human Trafficking is Big Money with the average trafficker having ten girls with each bringing in $180,000 per year.
A huge obstacle in curbing Human Trafficking we are told is that the victims do not believe they are victims, are afraid of police and authorities and will not testify against their controllers. Many victims believe that the trafficking family and pimp love them. Trooper Belanger stated that the average victim gets rescued 5 to 8 times before coming to the realization that they are a victim.
A very important statistic is that boys are also victims with most pulled in at age of 12.
Trooper Belanger reiterated over and over that we must monitor our children. We were told not to be our child’s friend but be their parent.
On Thursday there will be separate assemblies for boys and girls at Owosso High where the students will be told about the dangers.
Shiawassee County has a Human Trafficking Task Force that started this past summer.
Story/Photos: Tom Manke Editor Friends and Community Shiawassee County News and Views. Owosso Police Officer Mike Olsey with MSP Trooper Amy Belanger
