But we are victim centered.

You stop by the bank to make a deposit, only the front door is locked, the shades are drawn and as peek inside you see a male subject standing near the counter wearing a Halloween mask and yelling at the teller.?You then see the teller begin to hand money to the unknown male.?You are concerned that a bank robbery is taking place so you call 911 to report and they tell you that they will not take the complaint or send an officer unless the bank calls.?

You are on an evening walk through your neighborhood when you hear yelling and look over to see an adult male and adult female standing in their living room with the sliding door open.?You have met this couple previously but do not know them very well. You can hear the male yelling at the women and then he begins striking her in the face with his fist.?He continues to curse and yell at her, and you call 911 to report domestic violence.?The 911 dispatcher tells you that they will not send an officer unless the female victim calls herself.?Most of us would shake our head and say how can this happen, but that is exactly what is happening in many circumstances when persons call the National Human Trafficking Hotline.?

Over the weekend I received a text from an advocate and survivor from Ohio.?The survivor had obtained information from a person that did not want to be involved but had information about trafficking taking place at a residence.?The information contained the address, name of the trafficker and information that several adult females were being forced into prostitution from this residence.?The survivor called the National Human Trafficking Hotline to report this thinking this would be the best way to get the information out there and reported to the correct law enforcement agency.?After being on hold for 30 minutes she finally spoke to someone who said that the victims themselves would have to report this, in other words nothing will be reported to the police and possible victims will continue to be trafficked.?The survivor was livid.?

We have all seen flyers, posters and materials telling people to report to the National Human Trafficking Hotline. Over the last couple weeks every single story about trafficking and the Super Bowl tells people to call the National Human Trafficking Hotline, heck I promoted people to call the hotline for years. Advocates around the country teach awareness and give the hotline number, Truckers Against Trafficking has taught thousands of truckers across the country to call the National Human Trafficking Hotline. The number is at the airport, on the news, in hotels, at casinos, because we all want to help and learned after the September 11 attacks that if you see something, say something. The reality is if the person being trafficked is an adult and calls themselves, the information will not be forwarded to law enforcement. Hard to get a trafficker arrested if the police do not get the information. In some cases, the police could already be investigating this trafficker and some new piece of information could blow the case open. Unfortunately, the outcome will most likely now be no trafficker arrested, and the victim(s) will not get services.?

I have heard the excuse, “We are being victim centered, we are empowering victims”.?I call BS on that.?Being victim centered is not standing by while victims are abused, assaulted, exploited and trafficked.?Most will never report due to trauma bonding, PTSD, fear, and many other factors and the National Hotline knows this. It is no different when the police say they are victim centered as they transport the victim to jail after arresting them for prostitution. I call them out on that as well.?Victim centered has been hijacked by people that use the term but let other factors, like feelings and politics interfere in really doing what is best for the victim.??I thought we were past this and learned our lessons from domestic violence, but apparently not.?Guess the next time someone you know is the victim of domestic violence we should remember we are victim centered and tell ourselves no need to report this, if they really wanted to leave, they would. Perhaps we should just ask them what they did to deserve this, but as long as we are victim centered it is okay.

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