Data shows the scope of human trafficking in Macon. Mercer group looks to combat it

Traffick Jam, a Mercer University student-organization, has been working to drive out sex trafficking in Macon since 2015.

Since then, the organization has grown to include over 800 students who work to raise awareness and educate Bibb County high school students about the critical issue.

Human trafficking can take various forms, including sex trafficking, labor trafficking, domestic servitude, slavery and sexual exploitation.

Mercer University faculty member Tammy Crutchfield revealed that 13% of 350 Bibb County students reported they knew someone who sold themselves for sex in a health class pre-survey this year. Additionally, 9% of students indicated they knew someone who had been forced to sell themselves for sex, she added.

“That gives you some indication about the prevalence of this problem among the teenagers in our community,” Crutchfield said.

The Response Team for the Children’s Advocacy Centers of Georgia received 37 referrals for youth suspected of being commercially exploited in Bibb, Colquitt and Houston counties between October 2020 and December 2023, the agency said. Macon-Bibb accounted for 70% of those referrals.

The figures are significantly lower than the organization’s nearly 500 referrals from metro Atlanta during the same time period.

However, even low numbers may not represent the complete picture of trafficked victims, as human trafficking is a complex issue that is difficult to document, according to Naeisha McDowell, director of the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children Response Team.

“Just because Metro Atlanta numbers are higher does not mean (Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children) is not an issue in Bibb county and surrounding areas,” McDowell said in an email. “(Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children) may look different depending on the community that it is happening in. (It) can be perpetrated by gangs, family members, traffickers, and technology.”

Who’s addressing it?

The average age of someone being sold for sexual purposes is 13 to 14 years, Crutchfield said.

About 90% of domestic minor sex trafficking victims, both male and female, were enrolled in school at the time of their exploitation, according to Georgia Cares, a nonprofit focused on supporting child victims of sex trafficking.

Between Jan. 1, 2017, and Aug. 30, 2022, 32 trafficking situations were reported from Macon-Bibb to the Polaris Project Hotline, according to company data. Forty-nine likely victims were involved in those situations, and 18 of them were minors when their exploitation began, said Sabrina Thulander, Polaris communications director. The victim’s age was not known in every case.

On the state level, Gov. Brian Kemp signed three anti-human trafficking bills on April 24 in attempt to crack down on both traffickers and buyers.

“For years Georgia was considered a hot spot for human trafficking,” Kemp said in a news release. “But thanks to the GRACE Commission, under the leadership of First Lady Marty Kemp, we have established Georgia as a national leader in this fight.”

Georgia Deputy Attorney General John Fowler, who manages the state’s prosecution division, which houses the Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit, said law enforcement and government support have enabled the unit to confront the issue holistically.

“Through our teams and through our partners, we have been able to expose these horrible experiences and hold people accountable for trafficking children,” Fowler said.

The unit rescued 245 victims and secured 34 convictions between 2022 and 2023, according to agency data.

Crutchfield said she is appreciative of the nearly decade-long collaboration with the Bibb County School District, which has adopted Traffick Jam’s comprehensive curriculum in its health classrooms.

Traffick Jam started in 2015 with only talking to BCSD students at Southwest High School. Now the organization is teaching students in all six high schools throughout the district, Crutchfield said.

“We have educated over 9,000 students in Bibb County,” she said. “Our goal is to keep them from being trafficked by teaching them what it is, the danger signs, the risk factors and how to have an action plan if someone they know are endangered.”

Misconceptions, report the signs

While combating the problem, Traffick Jam also aims to dispel myths about human trafficking, such as the assumption that it only affects women and third-world countries.

“Trafficking is not confined to certain areas for the industry to develop and grow,” Crutchfield said. “You will find human trafficking in small towns and large towns. There’s nothing that really stands out about Macon that makes it different from any other town.”

Trafficking also does not involve kidnapping, as it can happen right in someone’s house or with people they feel familiar with, she added.

Fowler said identifying human trafficking hotspots is challenging because sex trafficking, child sexual abuse and domestic abuse all take place in private.

Suspected human trafficking can be reported to The National Human Trafficking Hotline, 1(888)-373-7888, and the Georgia Trafficking Hotline, 1(866)-363-4842.