SALISBURY — A proposal for a study group that would partner with local agencies to identify ways that the county can support the fight against human trafficking in the area was approved by Rowan County Board of Commissioners this week. The proposal was brought to the board by Commissioner Mike Caskey during their Monday meeting.

The study group would include Caskey, Project Light Executive Director Jim Duncan, and Assistant to the County Manager Siobhan Allen. According to Caskey, the three would interview groups in the area that work to combat or have encountered human trafficking, such as the Family Crisis Council of Rowan, Rowan Helping Ministries, and the Rowan County Department of Social Services. The study group would also look at ways to raise community awareness, identify funding mechanisms for the county, research ways the county can assist in support of victims and research the feasibility of a county task force or advisory committee.

“This is just the first step, and really the reason that I wanted to bring it up was the awareness because of the stuff that is already out there right now, it’s sort of a hot topic. So I thought we might take advantage of that and the other reason is I don’t want to use up a lot of county resources for the study without talking to you guys first and letting you guys talk about how you feel about it,” said Caskey.

The movie “Sound of Freedom” is a large part of what Caskey is referring to as raising awareness of the fight against human trafficking. The movie, which was released in July, centers around an anti-sex trafficking organization’s fight to save victims in Colombia. Duncan has already taken advantage of the popularity of the film to help raise awareness for Project Light’s work as well.

Caskey also cited some of the instances of human trafficking that he has seen in his work as a police officer in Mecklenburg County. One such instance, which Caskey was reluctant to give the full details about, involved a gang initiation. The gang forced someone who wanted to join to kidnap a rival gang member’s girlfriend. The gang was then going to take the girlfriend and sell her into prostitution, but the police intervened and rescued her before that could happen.

“Fortunately, we’ve been blessed recently with a lot of new businesses coming here and we need to leverage those to better our community and better our resources. As people move here and the population grows these kind of crimes are going to increase. One of the issues is I’ve heard different statistics from different groups so different groups have different ideas of what’s happening here,” said Caskey.

County Manager Aaron Church also noted that Allen will be in Columbia, South Carolina, on Thursday of this week to shadow someone who works for the city in a role specifically designed to combat human trafficking.

The proposal also comes after a fundraiser held by Project Light on Friday to celebrate the work done in the fight against human trafficking. Commissioner Greg Edds and Caskey were both in attendance at the fundraiser, which included a talk by a survivor of human trafficking, Deven Tucker.

Tucker was arrested at a young age for selling drugs in Detroit. After being released, Tucker needed a source of income and so joined an organization that took young men from state to state to sell magazines and books. He was forced into sex trafficking after the organization said that he was not making enough from selling magazines to make up for the money they were spending on him.

“They were like, ‘your flight was paid for, we paid for your hotel, we paid for your credentials, we’re paying for the gas to the van, and we’re paying for all your needs. You’ve got to make that up because it’s coming out of our pockets to take care of you.’ I didn’t sign up for that, I signed up to work and make a living. That’s when he pulled out a gun and held it to my face and said ‘you will pay for this, but with your body.’ I was sex trafficked across 31 states,” said Tucker at the fundraiser.

Tucker told those present how to help victims if someone suspects human trafficking in the moment. There is a hand signal that someone can give to discreetly tell someone they are in trouble where the thumb is put onto an open palm and then the fist is closed around it. Anyone can also call the national human trafficking hotline at 1-888-373-7888 to report a potential human trafficking situation.

By the end of the discussion, the commissioners agreed to support Caskey’s proposal for a study group. Although a vote was not required, the board did unanimously approve a motion to give their support to the study group and the fight against human trafficking as a whole.

Caskey said the study should take a few months to complete, at which point the findings will be brought before the commissioners to discuss a plan of action informed by the study.