I started in the field of fighting Human Trafficking as the founder of a 501c3 charity. For years I fought to explain to people that however important awareness and prevention of the issue was, there were people in captivity, right now. That awareness with no action afterwards, was almost next to useless. I can make my neighbor aware their house is burning down, but unless there is action to follow this awareness, it is going to burn right down to the ground.

Many groups said they rescued victims, but many meant in some metaphorical or spiritual sense, and if it was my daughter kidnapped, I felt if I wanted her rescued, I would want a team of people physically getting her out, then by all means, let’s see to her spiritual and mental health. At this time in 2009, I only found one group that was actually doing rescue of victims as a professional team in the U.S.

Sadly, U.S. laws, and the criminal elements in the U.S. made it almost impossible for anyone other than Law Enforcement to rescue on a professional level. Now, with Law Enforcement rescuing less than 1% of the victims, that would be a serious problem. I had researched groups and teams that rescued overseas and saw where one to three person teams would go into brothels, etc. and gather some type of recorded materials to use as evidence to turn over to Law Enforcement to help with both prosecutions, and initiate a raid to rescue victims. To me, with my prior training, this was a dangerous approach with minimal backup. If the process was handled tactically, there would be a support team in place, an extraction plan for the infiltrators, and multiple contingencies in place. I do applaud the bravery of these pioneers, certainly they were out in the field doing something, while others sat in silence.