One of the rising crime concerns in the region
In a powerful series last week in the Pioneer and other regional newspapers, Forum News Service followed that money trail as it pertains to one of the rising crime concerns in the region: sex trafficking.
In the fast-cash landscape of western North Dakota, the rise in prostitution and sex trafficking arrests has increased dramatically. And many of the young women forced into that life, mostly through violence and drug addiction, are originally from Minnesota, some most likely even from the Bemidji area.
In one of the stories for the “Trafficked” series (you can see the entire series at www.traffickedreport.com), some Minnesota law enforcement officials said that as soon as a local girl goes missing, they check North Dakota’s Backpage ads, a website known for sex-for-sale solicitation.
“Unfortunately we’re seeing a lot of our metro girls being brought out to the oilfields,” Anoka County Detective Thomas Strusinski said in an interview with Forum News Service.
It’s not just girls and young women from large cities and the suburbs, however. Women from small towns and American Indian reservations have fallen victim to sex trafficking, as well.
With Bemidji’s proximity to the Red Lake, Leech Lake and White Earth reservations, you can bet local tribal and law enforcement officials are aware of the dangerous trend.