Members of the Erie Women’s Fund learned the harsh realities of the hidden crime of human trafficking from Jordan Pine, a leading voice in the anti-trafficking movement in Pennsylvania. Pine is a Girard native who has led more than 150 seminars on the subject across the state. She said human trafficking is overlooked and under reported, because people don’t understand the master manipulators who draw victims in.
The data indicates that 42% of those manipulators are family members or romantic partners. “If we can shine a light on their schemes and the tactics that they’re using, they’re not going to be as effective and ideally then we will start to see a reduction in human trafficking cases,” Pine said.
Erie County District Attorney Beth Hirz agrees with Pine that education about what human trafficking looks like is key to spotting it, so that victims have a better chance of finding someone to trust and tell. “I mean these individuals have been manipulated for so long they’re not going to trust anyone especially law enforcement,” District Attorney Hirz said adding, “they’re also going to be concerned that they are going to be in trouble.”…