BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — City Serve and its partners continue their annual Project Rescue Campaign to combat human trafficking in Kern County.
- 10 Kern County GET buses will receive a makeover with banners to combat human trafficking.
- Kern County continues to be a Hub for human trafficking as cases continue to in-fluctuate.
- City Serve continues to partner with numerous organizations through Project Rescue to continue the conversation of human trafficking to find solutions and spread awareness.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Dustin Conteras, "All the data that they were collecting all over the years we're noticing that people were being trafficked in Bakersfield and they couldn't figure out why, but when they looked at the freeway system, they understood because Bakersfield is the last place that you stop at where you can stop at between here and Las Vegas, the mica of trafficking."
On Wednesday, community members and local organizations gathered to spread awareness on human trafficking and Director for the Exploited at City Serve,
Cynthia Giumarra, announced the continuation of Project Rescue, a coalition to fight against human trafficking that launched in 2012.
Cynthia Giumarra explains,"Bus travel is one of the ways that victims and traffickers either victims can try to leave and escape or traffickers will watch them."
With that concern leading up to a month-long run of 10 Kern County buses being wrapped with banners with the hotline for human trafficking and the be free text number displayed on them.
Giumarra adds,"The number of calls that come into the hotline number goes up, so that was encouraging for us to know that it is making a difference. We don't know the outcome of every phone call but the very fact that calls are going in makes a big difference."
According to the District Attorney's Office,
In 2020-2021, 6 cases were filed.
In 2022, there were 26 individual cases against traffickers that were filed.
In 2023, the numbers grew to 32 filed cases and in 2024, 23 cases filed.
Cynthia Zimmer "Keep in mind that this is a low percentage of the amount of cases that we receive at the District Attorney's Office in consideration for filing and they range from misdemeanors to homicides."
As this event recognized law enforcement's role in fighting human trafficking, Contreras, deputy sheriff for 23 years and co-director of Kern Coalition against human trafficking since 2012, shares with the community what he's seen firsthand.
"Women driving vehicles, but men were the passengers, The reason why passengers make their victims drive is because they usually sit behind them, so they can beat them as they are driving."
As Contreras also tells me, with Kern County being a hub for human trafficking, non-profits and law enforcement need the community's support to continue to combat this ongoing issue.
"We need them to be engaged. We need this to be out in the open; historically trafficking was a taboo subject to talk about and prostitution. It's something that we have to talk about, we have to acknowledge, we have to understand."
If you or your loved one or someone in the community is facing or has dealt with security trafficking, you can call 1-888-373-7888 to report suspected human trafficking.
You can also text "HELP" or "INFO" to 233733 (BEFREE) or chat online.
The hotline is available 24/7.
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