City to Screen Human Trafficking Film and Hold Symposium

From the city of Lynwood:

Jane Creighton, attorney with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office’s Sex Crimes Division Human Trafficking Unit, will be the keynote speaker for the city of Lynwood’s first “Teenage Sex 4 Sale” Film Screening and Symposium on Thursday, Sept. 25.

Moderated by Lynwood Mayor Aide Castro, the film – which focuses on the human trafficking ring – will provide attendees with an insight into the world of human trafficking and sexual exploitation – a world that is very similar to the world that many youth and women live in the streets of Lynwood, Compton and Long Beach, among other cities.

“These worlds are too close for comfort, they’re nightmares and no one should be living in them,” said Mayor Castro. This event is part of the city’s ongoing quality of life/public safety initiative.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Century Station re-ignited the initiative in early summer with a massive 50-deputy foot beat along Long Beach Boulevard where they got out of their patrol units and walked, greeted passers-by, talked with business owners and patrolled by foot for an entire day.

That foot beat was followed by three community meetings where the city met with motel owners and with residents to discuss their concerns regarding the human trafficking and prostitution problems affecting the Long Beach Boulevard corridor and all of those who reside and own businesses there.

The film’s screening and symposium are set to take place from 5 to 8:30 p.m. in the city of Lynwood’s Bateman Hall. “After viewing the film, you will leave with a different understanding of johns, pimps and the victims,” said Pastor Paul Daniels of Forgotten Children’s The Well Drop-in Center in Lynwood, which also opened its doors this summer.

“This is a topic that people talk about all the time, until they really have to, and then they don’t want to talk about it. I hope that through all of our efforts, from the City’s, the Sheriff’s and ours, that everyone have a better understanding of the world that most of these women are living in. Forgotten Children is a ministry of love and compassion for those victimized through human trafficking and prostitution. The victims caught in this web may not have family to turn to; well we can be their family.”

The symposium will cover topics ranging from human trafficking victims and the lives they’re forced to live, to how the District Attorney’s office deals with individual situations.

This film screening and symposium is open and free to the public. Everyone is invited to attend. For more information, call (310) 603-0220 Ext. 501.