For the last two years, I’ve done mayoral proclamations recognizing January as the education month on the issue of human trafficking. While this was all noble and fine, I didn’t have a good comprehension of the issue and was very naïve about it. I hadn’t done much education of my own to study the scope of the problem and learn about how to combat it. I reached out to the office of Iowa’s Secretary of State, Paul Pate, and was informed about IBAT-Iowa Businesses Against Trafficking.
I signed up to become a member of IBAT. There I committed to their tag line of “Learn Something, Do Something.” It’s not enough to do a proclamation. I need to engage by learning more. There are so many resources available from IBAT and through the organization Chains Interrupted.
There is the groupthink concept of, “This Can’t Happen in My Backyard,” but it does. In mid-2023, a situation came up in Ames involving a long-time health professional. Law enforcement learned about the decade long situation from a citizen who took the attitude of “See Something, Say Something”. There are signs of trafficking and we need to educate and raise awareness of the issue in our community. There is even a hand signal, a signal for help which is a simple gesture that can silently indicate a victim’s distress. This signal is made by bending your thumb into the palm of your open hand and then closing your fingers over the thumb, and then repeating.
This is the time of year that we see and hear about Winter Traveling Safety Tips. But did you know there are some safety tips that don’t involve winter driving? They include:
• don’t post your location or agenda on social media
• be aware of your surroundings
• check in with your friends and family often
• stay at hotels with anti-trafficking policies
There is even a resource guide book for adults/parents entitled “How to talk to youth about human trafficking” available from the Blue Campaign at the Department of Human Services.
This article is my effort to learn something and do something. Be safe in all ways in 2024.
Guest Column: It can’t happen here
Tom Wieseler
Mount Vernon mayor
January 11, 2024