The state of Florida is known as a hub for human trafficking. Some experts say it’s one of the most active states in the county for the crime. Now state leaders are looking for new ways to crack down on the problem
Lawmakers have worked to put more penalties in place for people who get caught in a human trafficking stings. They’re changes Tina Frundt says are a clear step in the right direction.
“Right now as it stands, Florida is actually doing some amazing things. They’re passing some wonderful laws that are not in place for children who are being forced into sex trafficking,” Frundt said.
Frundt was a victim of Human Trafficking herself. She was forced into sex trafficking as a young teen and shared her story during a human trafficking summit in Tallahassee.
The conference included breakout sessions with experts talking about human trafficking from the law enforcement side and the service provider side.
Sally Seniz works with her husband Lowell at a shelter they opened called Wings of Shelter. It’s a long term rehabilitation safe house for minor female victims, and Seniz said right now it’s the only one of it’s kind in the state with licensing from the Department of Children and Families. The two said housing is one of the number one things needed in the state to help with the problem. Lowell said the young girls who are caught up in sex trafficking have faced unimaginable trauma and need a safe place to heal.
“Let me give you a statistic. We usually put it on the board. We say 5x5x5=6,500. When you do the math it usually doesn’t work out. But if a girl has been violate five times a day, five days a week or five years, she will have been raped 6500 times. And when you look at it and you realize if a woman have been raped once in her lifetime it’s a life changing experience. How does a girl handle so much trauma,” Mr. Seniz said.
Lowell said many of the girls who come to the shelter seem normal, but are severely traumatized. He said sometimes to see that a person really has to look below the surface.
“You have to see that this girl has been victimized and you may be the only person that can help her break out of all that anger by loving her,” Mr. Seniz said.
Then again, Department of Children and Families Secretary David Wilkins said sometimes the evidence of the trauma a young girl has suffered, is much more obvious.
“We recently have a young girl in foster care and she comes back and she’s branded with the tattoo of the name of the pimp that has claimed ownership in her. And that’s a signal that something is really bad. He’s physically taking control of her,” Wilkins said.
Wilkins joined Department of Juvenile Justice officials, the Attorney General and other state leaders at the Tallahassee human trafficking summit. Wilkins said team work is an important part fighting human trafficking in the state, but he added local participation is key too.
"We are now very fortunate that I think over 20 local human trafficking task forces have been created in local communities and through that they are identifying the johns, they’re identifying the types of people that are coming into their communities to create this type of situation and then that allows us to start engaging the different services to start helping the children who are victims of these crimes," Wilkins said.
Officials said there are active investigations going on now as the state works to fight human trafficking. Wilkins said people should know if they’re involved in human trafficking, he feels confident they will be caught.
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