KINGSTON, Jamaica— The Police are encouraging parents, guardians and other well-thinking adults to take steps to safeguard children against human trafficking.

They report that children continue to be the main targets of this heinous crime in Jamaica.

Head of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) Anti-Trafficking in Persons Unit at the Counter Terrorism and Organised Crime Investigations Branch, Detective Inspector Kimesha Gordon, said that while the actual figure is not high, any child falling victim to this illicit activity is one too many.

“Children have been the target for the past four or five years, [and] we have primarily had children being identified as victims. For example, last year, about 70 per cent or more of the victims identified were children, and the previous year, 100 per cent,” she informed.

Inspector Gordon, who indicated that the Unit receives reports from the National Children’s Registry, said her team investigates all matters referred.

“What we find is that persons will make calls to the National Children’s Registry; these are anonymous calls [that] are referred to the Unit. On average, we receive about 25 to 30 such anonymous calls per year, and we ensure that we look into every one of these referrals from the National Children’s Registry,” the policewoman explained.

As a preventative measure, she said, parents should try to educate their children to be vigilant when engaging in online activities and be mindful of any potential link with human trafficking.

“Children are always online, so we have to, firstly, ensure that they know how to protect themselves [by, for example] not taking friend requests from persons they do not know, not sharing explicit videos or photographs of themselves [and] not pretending to be older than their age, because these things will have serious consequences,” Detective Inspector Gordon shared.

She encourages children to be mindful and alert of the people around them with whom they may interact.

“They need to pay attention to the persons that they engage with and be mindful that the trafficker may not be somebody they do not know. It could be a friend, it could be somebody who they consider to be a friend of their mom [or] dad. It could be their own mom or their own dad,” the policewoman emphasised.

She pointed out that “traffickers try to get the trust of the child so [they] can believe they are a friend; and they may begin by grooming them, giving them things in the initial stage, so that they develop that trust”.

“Tell your child not to accept gifts from individuals who are not persons that their parents authorise to give them gifts,” Detective Inspector Gordon further underscored.

-JIS