The Odessa City Council has approved a resolution to provide protection and assistance for victims of human trafficking. Councilwoman Denise Swanner introduced the resolution, according to an Aug. 14 Facebook post.
“It’s a regional problem, a state problem, a national problem, an international problem,” Odessa Chief of Police Mike Gerke said in the Facebook post. “It’s incumbent on everyone to do what they can to put an end to it.”
KOSA Channel 7 reports that Texas ranks second nationwide for sex trafficking with 917 cases and 1,702 victims so far this year. According to the station, in 2019, the Permian Basin was strongly considered a major hub for sex traffickers in the Lone Star State.
“There are 4.5 million people in the world that are in sex trade industry, 1.2 million of them are children, two-thirds are girls,” the unidentified founder and director of local non-profit organization Ernest Cecil Foundation said in the report.
In the Facebook post, the city said that the Odessa Police Department (OPD) is working with other law enforcement agencies to address human trafficking. Per the city, for nearly half a decade, the Ernest Cecil Foundation, whose leaders' identities are kept secret for safety reasons, has been helping girls 17 years old and younger that are fleeing from traffickers. The couple said a safe home for children is needed in the area.
The Ernest Cecil Foundation co-founders told KOSA that a stable environment is necessary for victims’ recovery. “They will be in a home that will have parents that’s going to love them, that’s going to have people that surround them to counsel and also to advocate for them and to give them therapy,” the foundation said in the report.
Those who are in danger or know someone who is are urged to contact 911 or the National Human Trafficking Hotline by calling 1-888-373-7888 or texting 233733, the Texas Human Trafficking Resource Center said.