“Sound of Freedom” is bringing local awareness to sex trafficking and child grooming

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — “Sound of Freedom” has made millions in the box office and appears to be helping organizations that assist victims of exploitation and sex trafficking. The film has also brought many new eyes to the issue on a local level as well.

Dawn Ferrer, Executive Director of A Safe Place, says the film has brought lots of awareness to the organization.

“Yeah, we have seen an increase and a lot of discussion about child sex trafficking. We’ve seen an increase in requests for our online predator and social media training for the community to become more aware of what we’re seeing locally and the U.S. as well,” said Ferrer.

Ferrer also says while the film depicts the kidnapping of children, grooming is also a big issue.

“In the U.S., it’s more likely that a child will be groomed as opposed to being kidnapping, which are the cases that are depicted in that movie. That happens more on an international basis, trafficking here, 65% of it occurs through that online grooming,” Ferrer explained.

When it comes to law enforcement, the Wilmington Police Department is no stranger to dealing with reports of grooming and trafficking.

“Primarily online predators, people that pose as younger than they are, and they use that to their advantage, and they take advantage of kids,” said Detective Jameson Hutchins.

Detective Hutchins says for parents, there are some signs to look out for if your child is potentially being groomed.

“Some signs that you could look for, withdrawn behavior, they’re spending a lot of time online, they’re not really as open with you as they use to be. Some of that could just be growing up, some of that could also be that they’re being groomed, they’re being slowly morphed into going into a relationship with that person,” said Hutchins.

To learn more about A Safe Place, you can do so here.