>> damian trujillo: hello, and welcome to "comunidad del valle." i'm damian trujillo, and today the crisis of human trafficking, what we doing locally to address the issue? plus, the music of little joe y la familia on your "comunidad del valle." >> male announcer: nbc bay area presents comunidad del valle," with damian trujillo. >> damian: we begin today with the annual north fair oaks community festival, comin' up in redwood city. with me on the show is the sheriff of san mateo county, sheriff greg munks. thank you for being on the show here, sir. >> greg munks: thank you, damian. >> damian: we do have a video that is actually from your website. now, this is--i guess this is, kind of, taking community policing to the next level, times two, if you will. talk about the purpose of the north fair oaks festival, there in redwood city. >> greg: sure. it's something we've been doing for--this is our 14th year, and it is a form of community

policing. it's all about building trust with the community. it's about engaging the community in a positive way. it's a way of providing a service to that community. so, during the festival, it's not just fun and music, but we also have up to 100 providers that are there during the day, so a lot of community-based organizations, a lot of county and city and governmental organizations that wanna reach that community and provide them with important information. >> damian: i know that a lot--and there's a huge population of immigrants in redwood city in your county and, well, i know that there is intimidation factor. there's a fear of, maybe, the community going to you, going to your offices, to these service providers, because we're just not used to it, so this is, kind of, your way of going to them instead. >> greg: exactly. it's a way to break down that fear. it's a way to build trust. we understand that we cannot serve that community. we cannot protect that community unless they trust us, and so we want that interaction to occur

in a positive setting, not in an enforcement setting. >> damian: since--go ahead. >> greg: well, and then the proceeds from the festival go to fund our sheriff's youth foundation, our various programs serving the community. we have over 3,000 kids that are part of our youth programs, and so the money that we raise from this festival goes to support those programs. >> damian: and since you took office there, talk about, maybe, where you've seen the evolution of that relationship evolve to. what have you seen it evolve into--your relationship between your community there in san mateo county and the sheriff's? >> greg: sure. so, as you mentioned before, trust is a big issue. and many of the immigrants that we serve come from countries where there is not trust to law enforcement or to the government, so we recognize that. we know that we have to overcome that. so, besides this, we also do other programs. we have a program called c.a.r.o.n., which is an outreach program with the community. we do dialogues where deputy

sheriffs sit down with the community members and talk about issues that face both. you know, what's it like to police in a community, and what is it like living in a community and how you interact with the police? so, those types of things we do to try to build trust. we understand, and looking at some of the things that have occurred around the country, you don't build a relationship after something critical happens. you have to invest ahead of time, and you have to build that trust ahead of time. and it's not a destination. it's a journey. it's a never-ending effort. you have to keep working at it. and it's hard work, and we're committed to it, and the festival is one kind of important, very visible aspect of that effort. >> damian: and the scholarship program is a huge one. i mean, there are a lot of young latinas who are running for--to be the queen of the festival, and they get valuable scholarships out of it. >> greg: exactly. that program is designed to fund young women from the community

to go to college, and it's a really fun program. and we've been fortunate to be able to help a number of young ladies get to their scholarship goals. >> damian: when we think of the title of "sheriff," we think of a crime fighter or, you know, to put people behind bars, but it goes beyond that from, you know, the sense of our conversation here. it's more than crime fighting. it's about those relationships that you do establish to prevent these crimes from happening. >> greg: exactly. it's about public safety, but public safety takes many different forms: having a healthy community, having educated--having kids have an opportunity, you know, hope, helping to build hope in the community, whether it's through employment opportunities, whether it's through, you know, healthy living. some of the things we do at the festival--we bring in kaiser. we bring in other organizations to teach, you know, programs about healthy eating and avoiding sugar and things that, you know, that we all know are good for healthy, healthy kids. >> damian: well, perfect. well, it's the north fair oaks community festival that's comin'

up on august 16th. there is the web address for more information, some valuable information on that website. any final thoughts, sheriff, before i let you go? >> greg: no. i just really appreciate the opportunity to let the community know about how important this is and how committed we are to serving that community and building trust. and i've brought along a deputy sheriff badge for you-- >> damian: oh, no way! >> greg: so you can be one of my-- >> damian: does this get me out of a speeding ticket or, kind of, not really? >> greg: well, you know, that and $2 will get you a cup of coffee at the starbucks. so, anyway, but thanks, damian, for havin' me and i appreciate the support. >> damian: any time, sheriff. >> greg: thank you. >> damian: thank you very much. and, up next, on "comunidad del valle," the fight against human trafficking. stay with us. you wish your dog could fight off fleas and ticks. but since he can't... you rely on frontline plus. because frontline plus unleashes a deadly

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they are very few police agencies that could investigate this crime full time or have the resources to do so. san jose p.d. is one of the only ones that does have a unit. so, the board of supervisors funded a human trafficking task force, consisting of three sheriff's deputies, a d.a. investigator, and myself. and i am the investigator--i'm sorry--the prosecutor on that task force. >> damian: so what constitutes someone who has been trafficked? what are the signs? what can we look--we do have some of the--a video--some of the obvious signs, i think, and we all know what they are. but what are some of the signs, and who are some of these folks who are being victimized by this? >> paola: so, really, what it comes down to is deprivation of liberty. is this person's liberty, freedom, restricted in some way? is there control being exercised? is there manipulation, fear, violence, coercion, and is this fear or coercion forcing this person to work in an industry that he or she doesn't wanna work in or be exploited in the commercial sex industry or more commonly known as prostitution? while we stay away from, really,

you know, having a common identity of a victim, because anyone and everyone can be exploited potentially, the most vulnerable of our society, typically, who the traffickers target, were young, our immigrants, our children who are in the foster care system, impoverished, who have come from abused backgrounds. traffickers are experts at sniffing out these vulnerabilities in their victims and exploiting them. >> damian: and given that you are the lead in that office, how busy are you? how busy is this problem keeping you? >> paola: so the really positive thing about the board of supervisors funding this task force and also collaborating with other community organizations in our county is that, with the increase of training and awareness among our police agencies, we're seeing a rise in cases being identified and being referred to our district attorney's office for prosecution. so, certainly, this is a crime that we hope to help have the

community learn more about and hope to seek their help in identifying these cases, but with the training of law enforcement, we are seeing an increase in cases being referred to us. >> damian: i've seen the reports in other parts of the country, when the super bowl approaches at their communities, they say that there's an increase in this type of problem. is that a concern here for the super bowl coming to santa clara this coming year? >> paola: you know, damian, you know, we really like to see the super bowl as an opportunity, as a platform to really raise awareness about this issue. and, certainly, you know, with the increase of people coming to a concentrated area, geographical area, you're gonna have an increase in all different types of services, whether it's restaurant, hotels. unfortunately, you know, there is a potential to see a rise in people taking advantage of commercial sex services, but also the potential of exploitation in labor industries. but, really, what we're trying to focus on is not so much the number, because the exploitation of one human being is too much

already, but really using the super bowl as a platform to raise awareness to maybe have people, who would otherwise not know about human trafficking, learn more about it. >> damian: there are some of us who might not be educated on it, and might think, "oh, no way, that's not a problem here in silicon valley." what's your answer to them? >> paola: exploitation can happen anywhere. and, surprisingly, a majority of the victims that law enforcement has identified have been domestic victims. so, we can't be blind about this issue. human trafficking is happening all around us, and we can't deny that it is occurring in the united states and santa clara county. and so that's why it's really important. we need the community to keep their eyes open to see the red flags. victims often don't identify as victims. you might have a laborer that might say, "well, i'm not getting paid the wage i might deserve." but that's exactly what the traffickers are betting on. they're betting on these victims not being educated, being afraid of law enforcement, and also being afraid of deportation. what we wanna do is be a bridge to that community and have them

understand that we're not out there to get anybody in trouble. we want to make sure that, if they are victims, that they get the help, support, that they need and that they are recovered from these traffickers, and that those traffickers are prosecuted and held responsible for their conduct. >> damian: leads me to my next question: have we prosecuted several, and what are they facing when they're caught doing this? >> paola: so it really depends on what a trafficker is being charged with. if a trafficker is being charged with labor trafficking, then that person can face up to 12 years in state prison. if it is the exploitation, sexual exploitation of an adult, that's 20 years, potentially, in state prison. if it's a sexual exploitation of a child, using force, fraud, fear, or coercion, that trafficker can face up to 15 years to life in state prison. and we do--we have prosecuted traffickers, where a current trafficker that we're prosecuting is facing over 40 years to life in state prison for exploiting a minor for commercial sex purposes. so, certainly, this is a very serious crime. it carries heavy penalties, and

that's why we need to do what we can to raise awareness about this issue and, hopefully, identify more cases and recover more victims. >> damian: very good. well, a couple of websites we're gonna show you right now. one is for the d.a.'s office, and the other one is for the south bay end to human trafficking. there is a web address for more information, a couple of web addresses. we'll be back and talk with some other guests on this important issue. well, so any final thoughts before we let you go? >> paola: thank you so much, damian, for this opportunity. and in any way we can, the district attorney's office and our task force, we hope that we can be a bridge to the community to build more trust and hold more traffickers accountable. >> damian: great. thank you very much. we'll be back and touch on this important topic when we continue. stay with us.

>> damian: with me now is ruth silver taube with the south bay coalition to end human trafficking, and my comadre with the office of women's policy in santa clara county, julie ramirez. welcome to the show. so we took--we heard what the deputy d.a. said about what the county is doing to prosecute them. what can you add to that, ruth?

>> ruth silver taube: well, we, as part of the south bay coalition, as well as the commission that has formed, has begun to do trainings. and we've trained about 1,000 people so far, and we started with vta workers. they were very instrumental in inviting us to train the employees and also train new employees as they come to vta. we've also trained community health workers. we've trained code enforcement. we've trained the fire department in santa clara, and environmental health and-- >> damian: you want them to see the signs if they see--if they become in contact with a victim, you want them to read those signs and see them, recognize them, and report it. >> ruth: yes, because these are people that interact with people in their homes, people who take public transportation, and they're in a unique position to

look for these signs. and people may have a comfort level with them that they may not have with law enforcement. additionally, they see every type of humanity, every type of emotion, every--and they know what's normal. so their gut feeling that something just isn't right is, i think, very credible. and they should go with their gut, yes. >> damian: i know that we have, maybe, the misconception that a lot of the victims are at the massage parlors and victims of prostitution, but that's not necessarily the case, right, julie? because we're talkin' about maybe even some street vendors who might be the victims of human trafficking. talk about that aspect, if you will. >> julie ramirez: that's true. we're talking about the most vulnerable populations in our community. so, again, it can include people like street vendors. sometimes these are immigrants who may not know or be familiar with the laws here in our country, are taken advantage of. ruth can expand on this if she wants, but there was a case where there was recently a bust of a vendor, or they thought

they were gonna bust him because he didn't have a permit, but once law enforcement got there and actually started talking to this victim, they understood that he was left there without knowing where he was. he wasn't in control of his papers. he wasn't in control of what he was actually doing or of his life in general. he was dumped there and then told to stay there, and he wasn't gonna get picked up until they came back for him. that's a type of labor trafficking when one doesn't have control over their own life, and he was stripped from those liberties. so the county got involved. our law enforcement got involved, and they helped rescue him and connect him with some services. >> damian: so maybe the next time you decide to buy a crate of strawberries and you're on the street corner, maybe ask a couple of questions other than, "how much is it?" to see what maybe the history of this person is? >> julie: well, we certainly wanna make sure that everybody is aware of that. what we'd encourage for people to be more aware and understand that, potentially, these could be victims.

i would encourage the public to leave the investigation up to the law enforcement. however, they do have an important role to play. so if they do suspect that something just isn't quite right, to be in touch with law enforcement. there's also a national hotline number. if they choose to call a non-law enforcement entity, that is available, and they can get connected with law enforcement--go in, investigate, and help save some of these vulnerable people. >> damian: okay. same question for you, ruth. how busy is your office in combating this? >> ruth: well, i am a supervising attorney at the katherine and george alexander community law center at santa clara university law school, and we have an immigration program, and we also have a labor unemployment program, and so we are busy. in the last few months, we've seen one a week, sometimes it's more, sometimes it's less, of labor trafficking cases. we see more labor trafficking than sex trafficking. often, there's an overlap

between sex and labor, but we're definitely busy, and i think there is a heightened awareness. i know that the common remark or common comment after the training is "why didn't this happen before?" because people are thinking back about situations that they now know, maybe, trafficking 'cause there's so many misconceptions out there. people think that it involves smuggling or that somebody has to cross a border, but it really doesn't. it's just force or fraud or coercion, and there's often debt bondage involved, where the person is paying off a debt. their papers are taken. and often there's threats, and it's psychological coercion as well as physical coercion. and for children, if you're under 18, then there's no force, fraud, or coercion involved at all of it's sex trafficking. and i think as these myths are

dispelled, people are now looking at situations that maybe they weren't looking at before. and as a matter of fact, that vta bus driver, he had the confidence, he said, after the training, to go forward and do what he needed to do to save this little boy. >> damian: he helped a kidnapped child. >> ruth: and i think what's important too is that these agencies, we have them speak at the beginning and endorse and encourage people to report so people know that their agencies are supporting them when they call in these tips. and there were actually eight tips that came out of the bus drivers. and the bus drivers were instrumental in wanting some sort of protocol: "who do we call? we can't just start talking about, you know, what we see because the trafficker might be there." so they developed a protocol, and each of these agencies has developed that. >> damian: that's being proactive.

so just be alert, out, wherever you might be. what's the 800 number? remind me before we let you go, and then there's a couple of web addresses there. >> julie: sure you can call the national human trafficking hotline number. it's 1-888-373-7888. >> damian: all right. thank you so much for all the work that you all do. >> ruth: thank you very much. >> damian: and up next on "comunidad del valle," little joe y la familia. stay with us. amian: and now here's what's

happening in your comunidad on "que pasa." [music] [music] [music]

[music] >> damian: in our saludos for those celebrating a special day, felicidades! [music] >> damian: and here is our address for next week's saludos. also pick up a copy of el observador newspaper and support your bilingual weeklies all across the bay area. you can follow me on twitter. my handle is @newsdamian. we thank you again for joining us here on this beautiful sunday afternoon. we'll leave you now with the sounds of little joe y la familia. buenas tardes. [music]

[singing in spanish] [singing in spanish] [singing in spanish]

[singing in spanish] [music] [singing in spanish]

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[singing in spanish] [singing in spanish] [music] male: you're killing me, honey. you're killing me. [music]

[music] [singing in spanish] [singing in spanish] [singing in spanish] >> male: take it easy, brother!

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