The Wausau Police Department is partnering with a few organizations in the community with the goal of finding out how much you know about sex/human trafficking in the Wausau area.
The partnership has prompted a survey that officials are encouraging you to take. The survey will give authorities an idea as to what people may or may not know about human trafficking.
"It's happening in all communities. It's happening in our community," Wausau Police Department Officer Sarah D' Acquisto said. "It may be tough for the general public to know what trafficking looks like, or what a victim may look like, or how victims may get sucked into the lifestyle of sex trafficking."
She added that even if you're not affected by human trafficking, it's important to be aware of the signs. The nine question survey will help the police department and their partners with gathering information to better serve the community.
"This survey is there to kind of get a grasp on how the community views it, and just an understanding of how the community understands how trafficking works and what it looks like," Officer D' Acquisto said. "If you don't know what it looks like you're not going to recognize the signs. If you perceive the signs to be something completely different, you're not going to report it as trafficking or you might completely overlook it."
A public forum will be held on January 21 from 6pm-8pm at Northcentral Technical College in Wausau. The forum is free and will be largely based around survey responses; to educate and inform the public about human trafficking.
