Seminar informs officers about sex trafficking
End Slavery Georgia sponsors the first of several planned training sessions regarding sex trafficking as part of the organization’s mission to educate the public.
“Training the boots on the ground” is important, according to Douglas Crumbly, one of the organizers of End Slavery Georgia.
The local organization’s mission is to rescue, rebuild and restore survivors of human trafficking, as well as combat the sex trade in Georgia.
Douglas Crumbly and others officially started the movement in 2015 and are working to build a safe haven in Rome to help victims recover.
The organization recently held a training seminar for local law enforcement, and several more are planned, including one for health care professionals and another for educators.
“The GBI is here training our officers about trafficking and how to recognize the signs,” Douglas Crumbly explained. “We have plans to teach this seminar across the state. This particular seminar teaches law enforcement what the most appropriate charges are in cases of sex trafficking and how to recognize when a girl is being trafficked.”
The response from local law enforcement was positive, according to Debbie Crumbly, Douglas Crumbly’s wife, who also works with ESG.
“It has been phenomenal,” she said. “They have already told us they want more, longer sessions, more in depth. This subject is very new to many.”
Debbie and Douglas Crumbly were introduced to the subject firsthand after Debbie Crumbly met a young woman who was victim of sex trafficking. The woman wandered up to the Crumblys’ church and asked for help.
“We worked with her for two years,” explained Debbie Crumbly.
The young woman’s story caused Douglas Crumbly to become a man on a mission. He began working to start End Slavery Georgia. The organization officially kicked off a fundraising campaign in December to build a 6,500-square-foot facility near Journey Church, where he serves as pastor.
It will offer the women who escape sex trafficking a safe place to stay and get counseling during the recovery process. ESG organizers are also always working to educate the public about sex trafficking and make them realize it is not just a big city problem or something they see on TV and in movies.
Education is key to putting an end to sex trafficking, according to Renea Green, with the GBI’s Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit. Green was one of the speakers at the seminar.
“It’s kind of like that saying, ‘If you see something, say something,’” she said. “Be aware and follow your gut instinct if something seems wrong.”
Signs of a girl being trafficked or being wooed by a sex trafficker could include things as simple as her suddenly having unexplained gifts or having her hair and nails done, but is not open about how she paid for it.
“A girl that a pimp is trying to seduce could feel good about all the attention she is getting,” Green explained. “They don’t realize what is happening until it is too late. If you have a friend who is hanging around with a much older guy or who is getting a lot of gifts and suddenly skipping school a lot, those are signs.”
She added that it is always best to report suspicious activity to local law enforcement, but the GBI does have a tip line, 1-800-597-8477, or calling the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is also an option.
Debbie Crumbly said since starting to work with ESG, she has heard
many stories that turn her stomach and frighten her.
“A young girl told us that her mom had been selling her to her drug dealer for years,” she said. “She actually sat there and told me, ‘I’m payment for drugs.’”
She added that sex trafficking is everywhere, not just big cities, and it does not just happen to certain income brackets.
“I met a girl from a wealthy home in Alpharetta,” she said. “She had been trafficked to high-end people and held, beaten and trafficked. It crosses all the socioeconomic barriers and it has to be stopped.”
Debbie Crumbly added that she heard many officers leaving the seminar say they now had a new way of looking at things.
“They felt they learned things that may even help them when they are on patrol later,” she said. “Being able to find someone who is in trouble like that and help them, it makes all those late, long shifts worth it. You’ve saved a life.”
Carrie Edge with the Floyd County Sheriff’s Office attended the seminar and said she was proud to see 136 officers train at the ESG seminar.
“It really opens your eyes,” she said. “It makes you realize you can’t always just look at the surface, you have to go deeper.”
Edge said she feels the seminars will help others see prostitution through a different lens.
“The women caught up in this are victims and this is a difficult topic to discuss,” she said. “It’s a more than $34 billion industry and pimps in Georgia are making $33,000 a week.”
With the increase in use of social media, she worries that many parents don’t realize their teens and preteens are just an arm’s length away from sex trafficking.
“They are literally a click away,” she said. “Teens hang out at the mall and walk over to watch movies. Say one of the girls has been talking to a guy online and he shows this picture of a cute 17-year-old boy. Then as she walks across the lot with her friends, this car pulls up and her online friend turns out to be a creepy, nasty man who pulls her into the car. It’s happening.”