OSHKOSH (NBC 26) — Large events, like the NFL Draft, give human trafficking prevention organizations, like the Damascus Road Project in Oshkosh, an opportunity to educate and spread awareness.
- The NFL Draft could lead to an increase in the exploitation of human trafficking victims.
- Victims are rarely kidnapped, rather, they’re recruited by someone they know.
- Damascus Road Project is looking to spread awareness on missing persons ahead of the draft in Green Bay.
Kent Maichle has been teaching self defense for more than a decade.
“We really focus on self defense with boundary setting,” he says. “ We want to make sure you have as many options and as many tools as possible to just try and escape. Escape is victory.”
His Women Empowered class at Gracie Jiu Jitsu in Appleton is meant to give women the confidence and the skills to protect themselves.
“Whatever it is, trust your gut and if it makes you feel uncomfortable, it’s inappropriate, and if it’s inappropriate, it needs to stop,” he says.
Maichle says the skills he teaches could be helpful at the NFL Draft.
“There’s so much noise and so much action going on, people don’t always notice, even if someone yells for help or tries to get free,” he says.
The 2024 NFL Draft in Detroit broke attendance records with 775,000 people. That would be about seven times the population of Green Bay.
“Any kind of tourist event, we'll often see an increase in human trafficking cases,” Terra Koslowski, education and engagement director for the Damascus Road Project, says.
The Damascus Road Project is a non profit in Oshkosh working to prevent human trafficking and spread awareness.
Koslowskis says victims are rarely kidnapped into human trafficking– instead, they are usually pulled in by someone they know.
“It's very similar to an abusive relationship, where a trafficker will tend to be someone who is loving and caring to gain that person’s trust, and then eventually force them into prostitution and take all of the money,” she says.
For many places, including Oshkosh, the internet is a trafficker’s biggest tool.
"The target age is 12 to 14 years old for recruitment,” Koslowski says. “Does your child have a phone? Do they have access to the internet? That’s the number one place kids are getting recruited.”
Increases in human trafficking crimes aren't referring to an increase in new victims or a risk to attendees. It’s an increase in the demand and exploitation of those who are already victims.
“Traffickers know that they can make money, so they will bring girls that they have recruited into the life to events in order to make money,” Koslowski says.
Koslowski says the draft can lead to parties or drinking, which can lead people to make poor decisions and can increase the demand of trafficking.
“They might go online, and think that they are meeting someone who’s advertising themselves as an escort, but could really actually be forced to be posting these ads,” she says.
For Damascus Road, the draft is a time to spread awareness and educate more people.
On Saturday, April 12, Damascus Road will be handing out missing persons fliers to hotels and gas stations. They’ll also educate employees on the signs of human trafficking.
“If a child has gone missing, it could be that they might show up in this area, if their trafficker brings them here to meet the demand of the large event,” she says.
You can find more information on Damascus Road Project, including how to volunteer for their April 12 event, by visiting theirwebsite.
