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In 1982, Johnny Gosch, a 12-year-old paper boy from West Des Moines, was kidnapped. The events following his kidnapping would change the whole nation’s perspective on human trafficking.

Prior to Johnny’s kidnapping, the laws dealing with missing children and human trafficking were not refined, and the young boy was considered a runaway. Noreen Gosch, Johnny’s mother, was not satisfied with giving up on the search for her son and ultimately hired her own private investigator to help uncover the truth about her son’s condition and whereabouts.

What the search revealed was horrifying. Johnny was being kept alive, but he was subjected to harsh treatment and trauma. He was ultimately used as a sex slave, one form of human trafficking.

“It is unthinkable that anyone can enter a community and simply take someone’s child,” Gosch said.

In the years following Johnny’s kidnapping Gosch wrote legislation for Iowa that was eventually passed into law. The FBI now deals with missing children cases very differently and reacts more quickly when alerted to a situation.

The Johnny Gosch case was a definite turning point for law enforcement and awareness of human trafficking. However, the harsh reality is that human trafficking is still flourishing throughout the world, including in Iowa.

Although he recognizes it as a problem in Des Moines, Paul Parizek, sergeant of the Des Moines Police Department said he believes the problem exists on a small scale in the Des Moines area.

“You’d have your head in the sand if you didn’t think it was happening because you don’t see it,” Parizek said. “But the Des Moines Police Department tries to have a pulse on what’s going on around us and be aware of the impact it will have on us.”

Many have reason to believe that because of the intersection of Interstates 80 and 35, Des Moines is a vulnerable city to human trafficking. However, Parizek said the interstate crossroad might mean more criminals pass through the area but doesn’t necessarily put Des Moines at any more risk for human trafficking than other cities around the country.

Many efforts have been put into place around Iowa to combat human trafficking, and the Des Moines Police Department recognizes and supports these efforts.

The Des Moines suburb of Johnston has experienced several sex trafficking cases within massage therapy businesses in the past few years. Johnson officials and council members recognized the problem and experimented with different ways to handle situation. Ultimately, the Johnston community received an award for instituting a procedure that demands that massage businesses be licensed. This process has made it very easy for law enforcement to identify when a human trafficking business is in their midst. Johnston Mayor Paula Dierenfeld said she feels that this system is working for their community and protecting them the best it can.

“The sad part of it is, we can shut them down in Johnston, but then they just move to the next town, and they take the women with them,” Dierenfeld said.

Currently, the Des Moines area is working on a women’s restoration home called Garden Gate Ranch that will serve as an immediate rescue shelter for women who have been affected by human trafficking. This organization is founded by Brenda Long, who felt that after five years of going through her own crisis, she needed to focus on others who have it worse than her.

Although sex trafficking is the primary focus in the United States today, labor trafficking also falls under the human trafficking umbrella and is equally important. According to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, labor trafficking is a form of enslavement that is practiced across the world, mainly in product industries.

Avilah Getzler, professor of English at Grand View University, said that some of these industries include chocolate, electronics, fishing and clothing.

In Getzler’s Good and Evil class, students focus on the history as well as details of slavery and human trafficking.

“I think that human trafficking is a problem in terms of this country,” Getzler said. “It is wrapped up in immigration as people are desperate and end up being trafficked.”

According to End Slavery Now, labor trafficking in the U.S. mainly happens to foreign victims who come to the country under work or student visas. These victims can be coerced by employers into leaving their situation in hopes of a better life or can be targeted once they are in the country. Immigrants are vulnerable to traffickers because they might not be familiar with the local language or the process for finding work.

In Getzler’s class, students take a slavery footprint survey in which they insert certain items that they own, which will then tell them how many slaves essentially work for them. Over the years, students have found that as many as 30 to 40 slaves work to make items that they own.

Human trafficking, remains an ongoing issue globally. However, law enforcement, government officials, as well as many organizations and agencies are on a continual mission to bring awareness and reduce human trafficking in the area and around the world.

To report human trafficking or suspicious activity, you can call the human trafficking hotline at 1-888-373-7888.