Forum on Human Trafficking Jan. 28

Protect Your Teen

Join us to learn more about the issue of human trafficking in Fairfax County in the West Springfield High School (6100 Rolling Road) auditorium at 7 p.m. on January 28. Detective Bill Woolf, FCPD Human Trafficking Unit, will lead a presentation and will address risk factors, common scenarios and where to go for help. Detective Woolf arrests traffickers, helps rescue teens and works hard to educate the public locally, nationally, and across the globe.

Dr. Liz Payne, FCPS coordinator for Family Life and Physical Education, will share an update on what is being done to provide age-appropriate instruction for students across the system.

Defined as “the act of manipulating or forcing anyone under the age of 18 to engage in a sex act in exchange for anything of value (money, drugs, shelter, food, clothes, etc.),” police identify an average of two new potential victims per week.

Many people believe teen sex trafficking only happens to runaways or in other more urban settings. But, it is on the rise across Northern Virginia and teens are now being targeted in public venues; bus stops, walking down the street, parties, shopping malls, through social media outlets, and more. Sex traffickers do not discriminate; they recruit victims across ethnic, economic and gender strata. Most teens are unaware they are being drawn in and often don’t recognize the signs of manipulation until it is too late. Traffickers are not just gang members or “criminals”; they may be business professionals, family members, students and teens they know. The trafficker may not be a stranger; rather it may be a friend or acquaintance from the classroom.

For more information on the Just Ask Prevention human trafficking campaign, resources and an update that was shared in 2014, check http://wp.me/p3Zi4e-zk.