Dr. Stephany Powell retired from the Los Angeles Police Department as a Sergeant in charge of a Vice unit. Dr. Stephany Powell’s unique insight into the world of sexual exploitation and trafficking gained through her thirty years with the Los Angeles Police Department has made Dr. Powell an unparalleled choice to lead Journey Out in 2013 (formerly known as the Mary Magdalene Project). Journey Out assists victims of human trafficking in finding their way out of violence and abuse, due to sexual exploitation or forced prostitution. In 2020, she joined the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) as the Director of Law Enforcement Training and Survivor Services. She is also the law enforcement human trafficking training consultant for Selah Way Foundation.

Key Points

Dr. Stephany Powell trains law enforcement officers on the ins and outs of human trafficking. She shares stories of times she missed signs of human trafficking and wishes she had known better. Now, she educates officers, so they can detect signs and help victims.

When law enforcement works with non-profits, victims can receive the well-rounded support that they need, which builds trust between survivors and non-profits.

According to a study done by ASU, out of all first responders, firefighters are the most likely to be the first point of contact of someone who is in captivity.

In order to combat demand for human trafficking, we must enforce consequences on those that are creating the demand and treating human begins as a commodity.

Resources

Journey Out

Selah Way Foundation

Stephany Powell Linked In

My Choice, My Body, …….My Rules: A Workbook in Prevention

National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE)

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Transcript

Dave [00:00:00] You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast, this is episode number 250, How to Work With Law Enforcement, with Dr. Stephany Powell.

Production Credits [00:00:10] Produced by Innervate Learning, Maximizing Human Potential.

Dave [00:00:30] Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak

Sandie [00:00:36] and my name is Sandie Morgan,

Dave [00:00:39] and this is the show where we empower you to study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference in ending human trafficking. Sandie today’s conversation I’m really looking forward to because we have with us an expert who’s going to really help us to discover the practical ways to work with law enforcement as we talk about, often on the show, the importance of partnerships across organizations, across agencies and, of course, law enforcement. Such a critical partner in all the work we are doing to end human trafficking. I’m so pleased to welcome to our show today. Dr. Stephany Powell. Stephany retired from the Los Angeles Police Department as a sergeant in charge of a Vice unit. Her unique insight into the world of sexual exploitation and trafficking, gained through her 30 years with the Los Angeles Police Department, made her an unparalleled choice to lead Journey Out in 2013, formerly known as the Mary Magdalene Project. Journey Out assists victims of human trafficking and finding their way out of violence and abuse due to sexual exploitation or forced prostitution. In 2020, she joined the National Center on Sexual Exploitation as the Director of Law Enforcement Training and Survivor Services. She is also the law enforcement human trafficking training consultant for the Selah Way Foundation. Dr. Powell, so glad to have you here on our show.

Stephany [00:02:06] Thank you so much. Thank you so much for inviting me.

Sandie [00:02:09] Well, I can hardly wait to dive into this conversation, and I know our listeners will benefit from your years of experience. We were doing a little pre-show recording talk, and during covid, we haven’t seen each other very much. And the last time that we were in person was literally at the human trafficking summit in the White House. So, I just say that because I want you all to know what a rock star, we have on our show today. So, Stephanie, let’s start talking about what are the keys to training your peers around the unique issues related to human trafficking and especially sexual exploitation. You’re like the guru of law enforcement training.

Stephany [00:03:04] You know, thank you so very much, and I think the key is when members of law enforcement can connect the dots, meaning that not only is it happening to the people they serve, but to perfectly understand that this could be their family member as well. So, giving them the human side of this, because usually when I’m doing a presentation with law enforcement and I start talking about the fact that this could be their daughter or their granddaughter or grandson or son, they are on the phone during the break either calling their daughter or son, and that’s the way in college or calling their wives and telling them all the ins and outs of what they’ve learned. And so, I think when there’s a relationship or they can identify personally, I believe that it gives them more of a push. The other aspect, I think, is when you’re working with law enforcement, there’s so much scrutiny, you know, especially now with the feeling that you know, some people really aren’t in support of them. And so, when you’re in fron...