Los Angeles County Supervisor and Metro Board Member Don Knabe joined California State Senators Ted Lieu and Bob Huff on Friday to reiterate their collective efforts to crack down on the demand-side of the illicit child sex trafficking industry and announce the launch of a new county-wide Metro and billboard awareness campaign.
You may remember a previous campaign by Metro, also led by Supervisor Knabe, to combat the heinous crime of child sex trafficking. The new campaign began as a public service campaign originating as ProtectOaklandKids, a collaborative effort of the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, MISSSEY, Clear Channel Outdoor and the original design team of Suzanne Boutilier, Genice Jacobs and Jed Davis. It will appear at Metro train stations and bus stops, rail cars and buses in English and Spanish. The information will also appear on Metro’s website.
“Metro is proud to support Supervisor Don Knabe in the campaign to fight child sex trafficking, and we encourage our many riders to be vigilant of suspicious activity on our buses, trains and in our stations,” Metro CEO Art Leahy said. “If you ‘See Something, Say Something’ to Sheriff’s deputies or Metro employees–if could save the life of a young victim.”
Thanks to a generous donation by Clear Channel Outdoor, digital displays and traditional billboards will broadcast the message across Los Angeles County.
“This campaign is a critical step in raising awareness of child sex trafficking and changing the public’s mentality that prostitution is a life choice,” Supervisor Knabe said. “No child grows up wanting to be bought and sold for sex in the streets of their community–they are victims–often forced into this life by brutal violence and threats. The true criminals are the scumbags that buy and sell young boys and girls for money and get off with a slap on the wrist.”
The campaign comes on the heels of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voting unanimously to support a state-sponsored “War on Child Sex Trafficking” legislative package that will add sex trafficking to the list of gang activity felonies and allow wiretapping in suspected trafficking cases.
© 2014 Alameda County District Attorney’s Office
Categories: Policy & Funding
“Child sex trafficking” is an extremely uncommon crime. This smacks of Victorian-era moral panics.
Obviously, it is heinous when it happens, but it doesn’t happen very often in the US (this isn’t Thailand), and it’s crazy to waste time and money on it. And you CERTAINLY shouldn’t be telling people on the Metro to call the cops on strangers because they don’t like the looks of a child and their parent. If you don’t see actual crimes being committed on the subway, certainly don’t call the Shefiff’s office to harass innocent people.