Students in the Desert Sands Unified School District, in partnership with a number of law enforcement, public education and other organizations, recently created a video to raise awareness of human trafficking among school communities. Riverside County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Edwin Gomez believes the students created something that could make a real difference, according to an Aug. 15 news release.
“I encourage all educators in Riverside County to share this video with students of an appropriate age who should be protected from this form of modern enslavement that threaten to interrupt their limitless future,” Gomez said in the release. “I applaud our Riverside County Sheriff, District Attorney and the Coalition to End Human Trafficking in Coachella Valley and Riverside County who are committed to protecting the dignity and worth of all 430,000 students in Riverside County.”
This video was done in collaboration with the Riverside County Office of Education, Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, Riverside County District Attorney’s Office and the Coalition to End Human Trafficking Coachella Valley Riverside County at Barbara Sinatra Children’s Center, the release said.
It was written, directed, edited and acted by Palm Desert High School students. In the video, the students recreate a scenario where one student, Abi, is lured into human trafficking from an older boyfriend she met online, the release reported.
Her friends are not equipped to notice the signs, and it ends with the declaration that “human trafficking affects 1.2 million kids a year.” The video also includes video clips from Gomez, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin that provide more information about combating human trafficking, according to the release.
Bianco mentioned how the Anti-Human Trafficking unit was created in 2010 to combat what was shown in the video and that, in order to “further that commitment to end human trafficking our county, we need educators, students and the public, to know the signs and report suspicious activities,” the release said
Hestrin echoed these sentiments, saying awareness and knowledge is key to fighting human trafficking, and hopefully that can prevent “anyone from taking advantage of one of our most valued assets — the youth in our community that represent our future,” according to the release.
The Coalition to End Human Trafficking Coachella Valley Riverside County was started in 2021 to be proactive in combating human trafficking, raise awareness about it and provide resources to victims, the website said.
The video can be seen on YouTube.
