10 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • JANUARY 2020
THIS MONTH
LI’S HUMAN TRAFFICKING
BY MAUREEN LEDDEN ROSSI
Slavery impacted every community
of Long Island until New York State
formally abolished the practice in
1827, historians say. But a different
form of slavery exists on Long Island
today — often under the radar.
The region is among the top 20
jurisdictions nationwide impacted
by human trafficking in the nation,
according to the U.S. Department
of Justice. This form of modern-day
slavery operates in the shadows of LI’s
well-performing school districts and
world-renowned beach communities,
with victims often too scared to seek
help.
“We need a societal shift,” says Keith
Scott, director of education at the The
Safe Center LI, one of several nonprofits
in Nassau and Suffolk counties that
help rescued survivors get back on
their feet. “We really need to make
people understand the problem is
here in all our communities, whether
affluent or socioeconomically
disadvantaged.”
Human trafficking is
defined as sexual exploitation
or labor acts
induced by force, fraud,
or coercion. Numerous
sex trafficking cases have
made headlines on LI in
recent years and a Muttontown
couple was convicted
of labor trafficking their
nannies in 2007.
More than 120 human
trafficking survivors
— 85 in Suffolk and 35
in Nassau — have been
rescused between 2009
and 2019, according to the
New York State Office of
Temporary and Disability
Assistance. Of those, 73
were sex trafficking survivors, 31
were labor trafficking victims, and
16 experienced both forms of exploitation.
That’s out of 1,539 rescued
statewide since 2008, with last year
seeing the second largest annual since
total since 2016 with 288.
Between 2008 and mid-December,
local authorities made 56 human
trafficking arrests — 24 in Nassau and
31 in Suffolk, the majority being sex
trafficking cases, with just one labor
trafficking case, according to the state
Division of Criminal Justice Services.
In the same timeframe there were 737
such arrests statewide. Those numbers
don’t include busts by federal
authorities.
Many human trafficking victims are
involved in the sex trade as a result
of drug addiction, experts say. Traffickers
in both counties come in two
varieties: gang members with organizations
such as the Bloods, Crips,
and MS-13; and smaller rings run by
independent perpetrators.
There has been progress in combatting
the human trafficking crisis
locally. The FBI has had a Long Island
Human Trafficking Task Force dedicated
to investigating the issue for
years. And in 2013, New York State
mandated that all counties within
the state create a court dedicated to
dealing with the complex issue of
human trafficking.
“Traffickers will get victims addicted
and keep them addicted to drugs
to keep them in prostitution,” says
Laura Ahearn, executive director of
The Crime Victims Center – Parents
for Megan’s Law. Working with other
advocates, she developed a standardized
human trafficking intake and
advocacy schedule to use with cases
coming through the Suffolk County
court.
Victims are often branded with tattoos
by their traffickers and they are
held without access to cell phones or
any connection to families. The Suffolk
County Department of Health
Services issued a list for all healthcare
professionals to help identify
victims of sex trafficking. That list
includes forms of branding or tattoos
that say, “Daddy,” “Property of …,”
“For sale,” etc.
Healthcare professionals are also
warned to look for signs of physical
abuse or unexplained injuries such
as burns and signs of torture. Long
Island’s trafficking court judges see
women who were beaten and starved.
Victims are held captive by traffickers
who control every aspect of their
lives from shelter to food, drugs, and
clothing. For many human trafficking
victims, the only out they have
is when they are arrested for prostitution
and come before a human
trafficking court judge in Nassau or
Suffolk county.
That’s where agencies like Scott’s and
Ahearn’s step in.
“Each of the agencies has caseworkers;
we are the ones to decide which
advocates we assign to human trafficking
court,” says Ahearn.
She says different advocacy agencies
rotate and are staffed in
the court to provide various
reintegration services such as
addiction treatment, mental
health services, housing, and
vocational training.
The Safe Center LI
offers an array
of services for
Nassau victims in
partnership with
Nassau County’s
Safe Harbour
Project. It is a
multisystem strategy
to enhance
the identification,
protection
and services for
victims of human
“We have slavery on Long Island and people
want to ignore it,” says Keith Scott.
SLAVERY IN 2020
Trafficking victims are often branded by their captors. (Photo by Maria Charitou)
/LONGISLANDPRESS.COM
