Community Corner

A 'Crime in the Dark': Human Trafficking

Howard County Advocacy Group Against Sex Trafficking works to shed light on dark issue.

Keeping tabs on sex trafficking is a challenge Maryland is working to address. 

“Currently, there is no streamlined method of collecting data for human trafficking incidents, victims or suspects in Maryland,” Gov. Martin O’Malley said in a recent report on the issue.

The governor presented the report at Maryland's first forum on human trafficking last month in Catonsville.

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During a June workshop about the issue in Howard County, more than 20 people showed up to see how they could help through the volunteer organization Howard County Advocacy Group Against Sex Trafficking (HoCoAGAST). 

HoCoAGAST formed in 2011 “because we were  ‘aghast’ to realize this modern day slavery and exploitation exists for millions in the world and for an estimated 300,000 sex and labor slaves in the U.S.,” said co-founder Judy Colligan.

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“This thing exists in Howard County,” said Tahira Mussarat Hussain, who identified herself as a U.N. ambassador to Pakistan, at the HoCoAGAST meeting.

Agencies like the U.S. Department of Justice and the National Institute for Missing and Exploited Children have estimated that somewhere between 100,000 and 300,000 children are at risk or involved in trafficking.

“By extrapolating other numbers, like how many children get arrested for prostitution, how many show up in domestic violence centers repeatedly…it’s been suggested that the number could be in the 200,00 to 300,000 range” nationally, said Jeanne Allert, chair of the Maryland Rescue and Restore Coalition, in an interview with Patch at HoCoAGAST's June meeting. “Then when you talk to the feds, they say that’s incredibly conservative.”

She said numbers are difficult to pin down due to the nature of the problem.

“It’s a lot like saying, ‘How many people beat their wife?’” said Allert. “This is a crime in the dark. This is a crime that goes unreported.”

HoCoAGAST's growing membership has been raising awareness of the issue by lobbying in Annapolis for legislation to protect victims and to crack down on criminals. It is also organizing forums to educate the community, including three last year at .

Joining other organizations, like the Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force, HoCoAGAST has provided additional perspective on the issue and is attracting others to its membership. Nonprofits at HoCoAGAST's recent meeting included Amnesty International of Baltimore and Kiwanis Club of Ellicott City. 

HoCoAGAST has also participated in trainings with the Howard County Police Department, which reports human trafficking exists on the streets and behind storefronts.

“In 2011, dozens of arrests were made on prostitution, and one of those arrests included a runaway from Prince George’s County,” said Cpl. Kris Knutson, of the Howard County Police Department, at a forum this spring hosted by HoCoAGAST. “She had been missing for about four months. You can only imagine what happened in those four months.”

Police in Montgomery County found that massage parlors were "havens for human trafficking," according to The Sentinel, and Knutson said Howard County has probed into the massage industry as well.

“In 2010 we conducted four investigations on massage parlors. These investigations led to the criminal arrests of these individuals," said Knutson. "They seem to be the hardest ones."

There is not only a language barrier but also a cultural one that makes protecting the victims difficult in massage parlor "fronts," said Allert.

To combat those obstacles, Allert is now working with Chinese Victim Advocates, a pilot program in Howard and Baltimore counties in which churches in the Chinese-American community reach out to victims.

Organizing and partnering with others is important to creating change, according to victim advocates. As such, the AA Aware group is forming in Anne Arundel County to collaborate on combating human trafficking, with support from organizations like the Maryland Rescue and Restore Coalition, which Allert said hopes to model it on HoCoAGAST. The was on June 18 in Severn, and approximately 50 people attended.

This article has been edited to correct the spelling of Tahira Mussarat Hussain's name.


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