Month: January 2014

As part of Human Trafficking Prevention Month, our partners at Community Violence Solutions are hosting a screening of ‘FLESH’, a documentary about sex trafficking in the United States at Hercules Public Library this evening at 6:30pm. From the FLESH THE MOVIE website: FLESH THE MOVIE “FLESH a shocking documentary, calls into question our definitions of slavery, human trafficking, and prostitution in the United States.  This is a story told by girls who have escaped and by those still enslaved.  It is told by former and current pimps.  It is told by the abolitionists of today, including numerous directors of non-profit organizations, a former U.S. Ambassador, LAPD vice and the L.A. City Task Force on Human Trafficking. “ See a trailer for the film here. Join us for the screening and facilitated discussion tonight, Tuesday January 14, 2014 at 6:30pm at the Hercules Public Library located at 109 Civic Drive. 

Press Release:  Contra Costa District Attorney and Zero Tolerance for Human Trafficking announce the Contra Costa County Anti-Human Trafficking Campaign 2014 Press Conference: Thursday, January 16, 11:00 A.M. Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office 900 Ward Street, Martinez      January is “Anti-Human Trafficking” month in Contra Costa County, designed to raise awareness of this $32 billion-a-year worldwide criminal enterprise.  Along with the Board of Supervisors’ Zero Tolerance for Human Trafficking Initiative, the District Attorney announces its month-long campaign to bring the message home:  “Human Trafficking Is Real in Contra Costa County.”  The District Attorney and Zero Tolerance Committee will be holding a press conference on Thursday, January 16th to discuss the public awareness campaign. Human trafficking involves the selling and using of humans for sex trade, often times soliciting and then ensnaring children as young as 12 to 13 years old.  Commercial sex rings and selling young women and men has become a profitable trade for traditional street gangs, replacing the harder-to-find commodities of drugs and weapons.  The internet and technological advances also come into play, whereby criminals use social media to recruit young victims, and then use social media to advertise, communicate with, and meet customers.    Human Trafficking also occurs with the exploitation of individuals in the work-force.  Men, women, and even children, are forced into providing services or labor for an individual or a business by the use of force, fear, fraud, or duress, essentially turning them into modern-day slaves.  Human Trafficking is the world’s second most profitable criminal enterprise, as has been pointed out by California Attorney General Kamala Harris.  California has the dubious distinction of having one of the nation’s “top 4 destination states” for trafficking human beings.  It is vital that outreach and social services work to combat this ever-growing problem.  It is critical that law enforcement receive training and investigative tools to identify and catch these predators.  During the next month, Contra Costa County will be displaying billboards in the streets of Richmond, advertisements in bus shelters throughout the county, and posters at the bus and BART railways throughout the county.  All of this is intended to alert the public of the growing problem of Human Trafficking.  Together, with information, knowledge, and resources, the people of Contra Costa County can work together to STOP Human Trafficking.   Mark Peterson District Attorney Contra Costa County   For more information, please contact Bobbi Spinola at 925-957-2214, bspinola@contracostada.org

Contra Costa Crisis Center has released a new Quick Resource Guide specifically focusing on services and resources for trafficked and exploited persons in Contra Costa County as part of Human Trafficking Prevention Month. The Quick Resource Guide can be downloaded here (English or Spanish) or you view the guide on the Contra Costa Crisis Center website, www.211database.org.

Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month On January 14th the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors will acknowledge the critical issue of human trafficking in a proclamation declaring January 2014 “Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month”. Please join us at 9:00 am on Tuesday the 14th in the Board’s chambers at 651 Pine Street in Martinez.