I don't know what to do about this.

Recently I was in a situation that's been causing me a lot of anxiety, fear, and grief. Perhaps someone has some insight for me.

I am part of an outreach program for human trafficking victims. During one of our outreach sessions, I had the awful experience of running into someone that I know, engaging in activities that clearly involve human trafficking and the exploitation of people. He clearly saw me and I confronted him about his actions. He got very angry and uncomfortable, and I left shortly after, feeling afraid, anxious, and unsure of what to do next. I see this man often and can't avoid interaction with him. I am worried that if I don't take action, he will continue his involvement in harmful activities with others. Should I reach out to his friends or family? Should I not say anything? I'm really not sure what to do next.

Thanks for reading. I appreciate any and all input.

I think you should report him to the authorities if he's participating in human trafficking. Don't bother with his friends or family. It's the authorities who need to know what he's doing. Do you have proof? If you have proof, you have to go to the police with that proof immediately. Not sure why you think it's your job to tell his friends and family that he's trafficking people? They'll find out from the media. If you do community outreach to make the community aware of the dangers of human trafficking, then your job is to report this man.

The difficulty is that he wasn't directly involved in the situation as far as I saw, it was just insinuated based on the context. I really have no proof whatsoever that he did anything illegal. The organization I work with generally tries to avoid calling the authorities because oftentimes the victims get criminalized instead of the johns or pimps. We primarily just direct the victims to safe places and services. Anyway, the only reason I was considering going to his family or friends first was because they may have more information to offer about the situation that would further incriminate him. If I have enough to go off of, I'd consider reporting him.

But you said in your OP that you "know" he's participating in human trafficking. What activities is he engaging in that you refer to in your OP that you confronted him about? How did you find this information out? You already confronted him, he got angry for being confronted, and now you want to go to his family and friends? I'm confused by your post. You say you know he's doing illegal things with trafficking people and you confronted him about it, but you don't want to report him to the authorities because you don't have incriminating evidence? So, what did you confront him about? A suspicion? Someone reported his activity to you? What makes you think it's safe to go to his family and friends about him since you already confronted him and he got angry which scared you? What "context" led you to believe he's participating in human trafficking? Context usually refers to third hand conversation or rumors. Doesn't it?

What was his level of participation with the trafficking?

I apologize for any confusion, I am trying to remain vague as I don't feel comfortable giving out too many details. Let me try to clear some things up.

As part of the outreach program I volunteer with, my group and I go to locations that are frequented for trafficking, such as bars, strip clubs, etc. As part of the outreach, we communicate with the bartenders and dancers and hand out information about safe places to go if there's ever a dangerous situation. In one of the locations we attended, I saw this man that I know (we'll call him John). My group and I have received reliable information that a specific section of the location we were at is dedicated to illegal activities (prostitution via trafficking, etc). John was in said location. At the time that I confronted him, there was no one else in the location, although it was implied that he was waiting for a girl to arrive (we have seen this happen many times before). I explained what I was doing there, to which John got very uncomfortable and angry and told me to never tell anyone I saw him there. I did not witness him doing anything illegal, and even gave him opportunity to explain himself. However, instead, John got angry, which tells me that he was likely engaging in the kind of activity I thought he was. This is not grounds to alert the authorities because I do not have incriminating evidence, I just have what I know based on the multiple other eyewitness encounters my group and I have had.

I am now left with a decision as to what to do. I interact with him and his friends regularly. They are heavily against this kind of behavior, and I feel as if they might have a right to know, although I'm not sure that is my place to tell them. I cannot contact the authorities because I don't have proof. I am just anxious and confused and feel as though I'm bearing a heavy piece of information about this man.

I hope that helps to clarify some things. This has been very distressing for me, and I would appreciate it if further replies took this into consideration. Your previous comments, StreetcarBlanche have made me feel attacked and more confused. I appreciate you trying to help, but increased sensitivity would be lovely. Thank you!

Hello Vesseloflove,
I first want to apologize anyone made you feel attacked even if that was unintentional. But I do think it's cool that made these feeling known. This is something a lot of people struggle with. I don't think people always realize how things can be taken over messages.

If you do not have proof it is hard to go to the authorities. Even if you have proof of illegal activities it can be difficult to do that to someone you consider or even considered a friend. You could potentially let the police know about the interaction.

There could be other explanations for his behavior in this situation, he could be embarrassed about who he was meeting or afraid that you would think that was what he was doing there (trafficking). It is even possible he was doing something else illegal like buying drugs and didn't want you to know. I am not trying to speculate or say that he was not trafficking, just trying to offer possible other explanations.

I would try to talk to your group's mentors or supervisors about it. They may have better advice then any of us can offer since they may have experienced similar situations.

I do think it is appropriate to talk to your friends about this. They are also your friends and this could potentially negatively affect them. I would just be cautious of what friends you say what too. I would be concerned that if he is participating in this type of behavior, he may have friends who are also participating in this type of behavior. I would also be careful how you phrase it. It may be negatively received if it sounds like your accusing him. I would more try to be like "I ran into John the other day while I was with my trafficking group it was really weird...." and basically tell them what you witnessed and how he acted. Then just let them draw their own conclusions.

Most of all make sure you stay safe and sane. Good luck and keep us updated if you can.

UR Beautiful,

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to this so thoughtful and graciously. This advice is really helpful for me. I think I will talk to my group leaders and friends about it when I feel that the time is right. I also want to give John the benefit of the doubt in the situation as I obviously didn't see him doing anything firsthand. You helped me feel a lot less anxious about this, I appreciate your reply!

Don't involve his friends or family. This is solely about him and his trafficking involvement. If you talk with his friends and family you will likely put yourself in real danger in addition to alienate yourself from your shared social network, since people tend to take sides in these situations.

I really would get the police involved. Ask them to investigate the strip club's cameras. Every strip club has them. They can also run a background check on this guy and the women who work there. Do not say ANYTHING to his friend's or family. Do not involve them. They would likely become collateral damage and also be in danger if your friend is indeed involved in human trafficking out of that strip club. Really, you have to get the police involved somehow. Or a watchdog group that can monitor this guy in this strip club a la steakout. There are groups that do that sort of thing, that lead to busting up trafficking circles. But please leave that guy's friends and family members out of this situation.

Streetcar Blanche,

Those are good suggestions, thank you for your reply.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vesseloflove . In one of the locations we attended, I saw this man that I know (we'll call him John). My group and I have received reliable information that a specific section of the location we were at is dedicated to illegal activities (prostitution via trafficking, etc). John was in said location. At the time that I confronted him, there was no one else in the location, although it was implied that he was waiting for a girl to arrive (we have seen this happen many times before). I explained what I was doing there, to which John got very uncomfortable and angry and told me to never tell anyone I saw him there. I did not witness him doing anything illegal, and even gave him opportunity to explain himself. However, instead, John got angry, which tells me that he was likely engaging in the kind of activity I thought he was. This is not grounds to alert the authorities because I do not have incriminating evidence, I just have what I know based on the multiple other eyewitness encounters my group and I have had.

I am curious, what kind of proof do you need to alert authorities? Video? It would seem to me that the reliable sources you have and his defensiveness would at least be enough to put him on someone's radar. Although I have no experience with this so maybe you can help me understand?

I agree with the other posters like sarahsweets and StreetcarBlanche about calling the police, @vesseloflove. Even if you don't have evidence, they can at least put an eye on him and if anything illegal shows up they'll be able to catch him in the act. At the very least, you'll know that you've done your duty. Anything further is out of your zone I'd say. I also agree with URBeautiful about talking to your supervisors about this if you're struggling. I'm sure they will be able to help you. Surely this is not the first time they've had to deal with a situation like this! Let us know how things turn out and please remember to stay safe as your own Life is a PRIORITY as well. Sending many safe, warm hugs to BOTH you and ALL of the people involved in your program, vesseloflove!