Defenders learn how to fight human trafficking | palm beach

PALM BEACH GARDENS | Given that Florida is ranked third in the nation for human trafficking and Palm Beach County is third in the state for suspected cases, it is well documented that people are victims in the region. Catholic Charities and its Bakhita Empowerment Program are tackling the problem in partnership with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.

To help all Catholic Charities staff recognize human trafficking, a presentation was held June 11 at the Family Life Center at St. Ignatius of Loyola Cathedral. The keynote speaker was PBSO Sgt. Carlos Lisboa, who works with the Palm Beach County Human Trafficking Task Force and Catholic Charities to end this modern-day scourge.

According to the Sheriff's Office website, human trafficking is defined as transporting, soliciting, recruiting, harboring, providing, enticing, maintaining, or obtaining another person into the purpose of exploiting it for commercial sexual activities, work or services. Due to the nature of the crime, victims of human trafficking can be found in all corners of society, from the poorest to the richest.

The main goal of the Bakhita Empowerment Program is to help victims of human trafficking become self-reliant after being rescued by law enforcement, said Sandra Perez, program administrator, who works with Lisbon since 2017.

“We provide long-term, sometimes short-term services,” she said. “Long-term case management because PBSO intervenes most of the time in a crisis. As Lisboa told you, this constantly overlaps with crisis intervention and case management because most victims relapse or are not ready to receive or commit to long-term services. They still depend on traffickers. So it's a complicated process, but we provide them with advice, we cover all their basic needs like housing, food, clothing. All the needs they have right now.

Carol Rodriguez, director of program development and quality for Catholic Charities, said she hopes the knowledge agency staff gain will help them recognize local victims of human trafficking.

“Catholic Charities works with the poor and vulnerable. These are direct service personnel who work with vulnerable populations who are at high risk of human trafficking,” she said. “Even though we have a program that has real expertise in human trafficking, we have all these other programs that really need to understand the signs, how to recognize them and what to do if they see something suspicious. »

Perez encouraged his colleagues at Catholic Charities to contact Bakhita's office if one of their clients appears to be a trafficking victim.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING INDICATORS

• Is the person free to leave and come and go as they wish?

• Is the person unpaid, very poorly paid, or paid only in tips?

• Does the person work too long and/or unusual hours?

• Is the person not entitled to breaks or suffering from unusual restrictions at work?

• Does the person have a large debt and is unable to repay it?

• Does the person live at their workplace?

• Was the person recruited under false promises regarding the nature and conditions of their work?

• Does the person work in the sex industry and have a pimp/manager?

• Is the person under 18 years of age and engaging in commercial sex acts?

• Does the person control or have possession of their personal identification documents, travel documents, money, financial records and bank account?

• Does the person avoid eye contact?

To learn more about Bakhita's empowerment program, visit www.ccdpb.org/programs/anti-human-trafficking/, email Perez at [email protected] or call 561-345-2008 . For more information about the Palm Beach County Human Trafficking Task Force, visit www.pbso.org/human-trafficking.

Contact the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office Human Trafficking Unit at 561-687-6838; the National Human Trafficking Resource Center at 888-373-7888; or send the BeFree text line to BeFree (233733).