Training Support Center (TSC) Great Lakes held an all staff training focused on recognizing and addressing sex trafficking June 24.

Jeff Tiegs, chief operations officer for the Guardian Group (a non-profit whose mission is to prevent and disrupt the sex trafficking of women and children while enabling partners to identify victims and predators in the United States), addressed over 200 staff members on how to recognize when someone is being trafficked.

“I feel it is very important to help people recognize sex trafficking when it intersects in their lives,” Tiegs said. “People are going to see it in the malls, when they travel or on the street. Even recognize it if it enters your home and affects your kids or others in your family.”

The class focused on how it happens; how a predator, or pimp, is able to meet young girls, groom and break them into the life.

According to Tiegs, a predator looks for vulnerability within a victim such as low self-esteem, a predator can easily spot these traits by simply watching how a young girl reacts when he calls her beautiful. If she lowers her head, she is potentially a good target. Then the trafficker will gain the necessary power and control required to manipulate an individual into doing what they want. This is followed by the predator introducing the victim into “the life” through very violent means or by shaming them to maintain power and control.

“I want to plant a seed in everyone to feel a passion to do something about this,” he said. “Americans don’t understand that this crime is prolific here and it is girls in the United States being recruited and sold. Once we begin to get our arms around that, I think there will be a ground swell of support for us to do something about it nationally.”

The message is if you see something that is wrong or a situation that is going the wrong direction, all Sailors have the responsibility to say something.

“It’s important that everyone has a basic understanding of what sex trafficking looks like,” said TSC Commanding Officer Capt. David Dwyer. “Everyone has a role to play in combating this problem. By identifying victims and reporting, we will be doing our part to help law enforcement rescue victims.”

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