Parents naturally want to ensure the safety of their children. However, an unsettling reality looms: the trafficking of minors is not confined to distant cities or obscure corners of the web. It is occurring right within suburban areas and urban neighborhoods, affecting places we frequent daily—our communities, educational institutions, shopping areas, and bustling main streets. This is not an exaggeration but a call for urgent collective action.

Our perspective comes from both law enforcement and hands-on service delivery. Across Long Island, law enforcement has been proactive in investigating and dismantling trafficking rings. Collaborations with organizations like the FBI, the Suffolk County Police Department, and the EAC Network have unveiled a grim reality: unlike drugs or weapons, human lives can be exploited repeatedly for profit.

The establishment of Suffolk County’s first dedicated Human Trafficking Unit marked a significant evolution in approach—prioritizing the treatment of rescued individuals as victims deserving of protection, support, and empathy. In collaboration, EAC Network and law enforcement forged a pioneering program linking survivors to compassionate social workers and essential services, facilitating recovery for victims while ensuring traffickers face justice.

It is imperative that we all engage in this battle by comprehending the nature of trafficking and learning how to protect ourselves. Trafficking thrives on secrecy; increasing awareness is the cornerstone of our defensive strategy.

During training sessions across Long Island, attendees are often shocked to discover the extent of trafficking within their own localities. Yet, it is a present threat. Educating everyone—from children and neighbors to students, healthcare professionals, educators, coaches, and colleagues—is vital in creating a robust defense against those who exploit the vulnerable.

In the previous year, EAC Network successfully reached nearly 5,000 local students with workshops focusing on trafficking, digital safety, and nurturing healthy relationships. Additionally, they equipped hundreds of parents, teachers, and religious leaders with the skills to identify warning signs, strengthening the community’s ability to combat this issue.

Vulnerability can take many forms. From college students away from home for the first time or under financial pressure, to young people in unstable households or online without guidance — traffickers know how to exploit the cracks in our systems. This is not about strangers abducting children from dark alleys.

Most sex trafficking in the United States does not involve stranger abduction. More often, children are lured and groomed by someone they know — often through social media or gaming platforms, where traffickers can build trust over time and manipulate emotions with precision.

Some still assume trafficking is a “big-city problem.” The truth is far different — and far more dangerous. The same tactics used in urban centers are used everywhere: grooming online, approaching kids at malls or bus stops, and exploiting insecurities. Just as the opioid crisis proved that addiction doesn’t stop at city limits, human trafficking networks don’t either.

At EAC Network we provide trauma-informed care, mentoring, safety planning, bilingual support, transportation, and — most importantly — trusted adult relationships that help youth rebuild confidence and learn what healthy relationships look like.

In 2024, we received 118 referrals and served 191 local youth. Since 2014, our Safe Harbour program has supported more than 840 Suffolk youth — children who might otherwise have fallen through the cracks. Yet even these numbers tell only part of the story: trafficking is chronically underreported. Victims often fear coming forward or go unrecognized by adults who miss the warning signs.

We are also seeing alarming trends — more cases, more warning signs, and more children at risk. Traffickers are increasingly using social media, gaming platforms, encrypted messaging, AI and cryptocurrencies to recruit victims and evade detection. Combating these evolving tactics demands greater awareness, deeper collaboration, and stronger investment in prevention and education.

Protecting children from exploitation is a shared responsibility. Every parent, teacher, coach, elected official, and caring adult has a role to play — by learning the signs, having the difficult conversations, and supporting the organizations doing this work on the ground.

Sex trafficking of minors is one of the darkest challenges we face. But with open eyes, strong partnerships, and a shared resolve, it is one we can — and must — confront together.

These are our children. And it is our responsibility to protect them.

Mukherjee Lockel is the president and CEO of EAC Network. Hart is the associate vice president of public safety and community engagement at Hofstra University and a former Suffolk County police commissioner and former senior supervising resident agent for the Long Island FBI Office.