The federal funding from the Office for Victims of Crime will focus on sex trafficking and labor trafficking which occurs in the agricultural and food industries and among domestic and traveling sales crews.
Lieutenant Eric Brunner is the Kent County Sheriff’s Office Human Trafficking Task Force Supervisor. He says the team has identified 90 victims of labor and sex trafficking so far this year with 50-60% of sex trafficking victims being girls aged 17 and under.
“If you’re listening and you think, is there a problem in my neighborhood? This is a problem in Ada, and Belmont, in Kent City and Byron Center and Grand Rapids. It’s not just somewhere else.”
The West Michigan Human Trafficking Coalition brought collaborating agencies together in a panel Wednesday to raise awareness about human trafficking, meeting the needs of survivors, and how law enforcement is holding traffickers accountable.
