Global Courant 2023-04-27 20:52:39
Veteran truck driver Bob Bramwell recalls his first thoughts after being trained through a program from his company to recognize the warning signs of human trafficking on the road.
“When I first got the training, as a regional driver, in the middle of a small town in America, I thought, ‘This is something I’ll never encounter,” he told Fox News.
However, the Missouri resident did experience a case of human trafficking and used the training to spot and rescue a young woman he found all alone on a deserted rural road just 50 miles from his home while he was in town with his family. the car sat.
“I stopped at an intersection and there was a young lady standing there, and it was dark, cold, just the way she was dressed. I rolled down the window when I asked her if she was okay,” Bramwell recalled.
Bob Bramwell used the training he received from Truckers Against Trafficking to help a young woman in need he found along a desolate stretch of road in Missouri. (Fox news)
“Immediately the tone in her voice, even though she said okay, I knew it wasn’t okay.”
Bramwell said he sensed the woman was afraid to talk to him, and that he turned on his car’s dome light so she could see he was with his family. Finally, that evening, he assured her that she could get her safely to safety in the car.
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“She had no idea where she was,” he said. “Once we figured it out on the level of what we’re dealing with, we obviously took her to (a) safe haven.”
The truck driver said he could see the effects of human trafficking on the young woman.
“I had a private conversation with her out of my children’s reach. She told me how she had been held hostage, drugged and raped for over a month, and that her child was being held in another location she did not know.”
He continued: “It was very clear then that it was time to call the local authorities and get them involved. And you know, when that was mentioned she clearly didn’t want to do that because she felt so bound by her captors that if she didn’t go back, what would happen to her daughter?”
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It was Bramwell’s employer, ABF Freight System, who set up the training for him and his colleagues. It has been proven during the cargo transport, the bus and energy industries over the past decade by Truckers Against Trafficking, a non-profit organization dedicated to combating human trafficking in the US. To date, the group has trained more than 1.5 million industry professionals and has partnered with national transportation organizations, including the American Trucking Association.
Truckers Against Trafficking has trained over 1.5 million people across a variety of industries. (TAT training video)
Bramwell said he was taught how to spot “red flags” as he traveled his routes, such as people who are in areas where no one would normally go and vans carrying large groups of young women across parking lots.
“It’s very eye-opening once you get through the training,” he said. “You realize that some of the things you’ve seen along the way… it all comes together.”
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According to a report by the Polaris Project that analyzed data gathered from the National Human Trafficking Hotline, a total of 10,359 human trafficking cases had been reported by 2021, and a total of 16,554 likely victims were identified from those situations.
“Crime is the intersection of opportunity, interest and benefit. Human trafficking is where those things all converge there,” Jean Bruggeman, the executive director of Freedom Network USA, told Fox News.
“What all human trafficking cases have in common is that the trafficker exploits the vulnerability of the individual,” she added. “Human trafficking happens everywhere. Wherever there is a lot of transport. There are a lot of people going in and out.”
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Bob Bramwell told Fox News that he doesn’t consider himself a hero, but was grateful to be able to help that young woman. (Fox news)
Bramwell said he kept looking for warning signs that people were being trafficked against their will, and that his motivation to help others was simple.
“When you go through the training and you hear survivors’ stories and, you know, your move. You think about it like that could be someone’s daughter,” he said. “That could be someone being forced to do something they don’t want to do and unable to live the life they can live.”
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He said he is glad that his education has allowed him to help at least one person.
“I hope she can live the life she wants to live of her own free will.”
Fox News’ Andrew Keiper contributed to this report.
Garrett Tenney is a correspondent for the Fox News Channel (FNC). He joined FNC in April 2013 and works in the DC bureau.
