Using soap to fight sex trafficking for All-Star game

As the Major League All-Star Game approaches, local law enforcement officials as well as anti-human trafficking activists are bracing for a spike in sex traffic in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.

One of their main weapons to combat such an influx? Bars of hotel soap.

But these are no ordinary bars of hotel soap. Rather, the nearly 15,000 bars being distributed to as many as 100 hotels in the area include stickers with national help hotlines numbers attached for those wishing to escape a life of sex slavery and human trafficking.

Why soap? The shower is one place where victims are alone and away from their pimps/controllers.

"We know with any big event or big sports event, there is always an increase in demand for commercial sex (prostitution)," said Erin Meyer, the anti-human trafficking program coordinator for the Cincinnati branch of The Salvation Army and coalition manager for End Slavery Cincinnati. "And that will no doubt mean an increase in human trafficking. That data is there. So we are doing what we can to raise awareness of the issue and help those people that we can."

The soap bars will be placed in hotel bathrooms with special stickers that say: "Are you being forced to do anything you don't want to do? Have you been threatened if you try to leave? Have you witnessed young girls being prostituted? If so, please call: 1-888-373-7888 National Human Trafficking Hotline."

The effort is part of the national SOAP (Save Our Adolescents from Prostitution) program started by Theresa Flores, a former victim of sex slavery who started the national Traffick Free coalition. It also includes special instructions for hotel staff that might help them spot those who might be involved in human/sex trafficking.

Several hotels in the area are still considering whether to participate, although one local manager said his housekeeping staff will probably distribute the soap in their rooms.

"We haven't decided yet although we probably will give some to our housekeepers," said Greg Hagedon, assistant general manager for the Holiday Inn Express in Milford. He also said they will go over not only the material presented by local volunteers but review corporate training.

"We all get human rights training and will be on the lookout," Hagedon said.

According to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center, the Cincinnati area is already a hotspot for human trafficking, with the national hotline receiving 809 calls from Ohio alone in 2013, the fifth-highest of any state. There have been 175 such calls so far this year, and 53 actual law enforcement cases reported statewide in 2015.

Local law enforcement also is setting up its own hotline for possible victims, according to Cincinnati Fire Department assistant chief Ed Dadosky, who is in charge of emergency and law enforcement planning for the All-Star Game for the city. (That hotline is 513-564-CALL and will be open 24 hours a day for the week before and after the All-Star game).

Dadosky said he and other city officials noted the increase in sex traffic arrests in Minnesota for the All-Star game last year, as well as in Kansas City in 2012, and decided to take steps.

"The police are ramping up the numbers of officers dedicated for this," said Dadosky, who has been coordinating with the Cincinnati Reds and Major League Baseball. He added that more training will be given to fire department officials as well to help spot signs while on emergency runs.

"It sends a real message that we need to raise the level of our game, no pun intended, even past the All-Star Game," Dadosky said. "Most of us don't normally have an eye for human trafficking."

MLB officials declined to discuss specific measures being taken to combat human trafficking during its big events, saying such disclosures were "counterproductive."

"We always work with local and federal officials on all security issues, particularly for our events," MLB spokesman Michael Teevan said. "All-Star Week calls for careful planning and cooperation with the local police department. We have no present intelligence specific to trafficking at past All-Star Weeks, nor at this year's event in Cincinnati, but we will have safeguards in place."

Local FBI officials also said they were preparing for a possible rise in sex traffic, but also would not comment on how they were planning on combating it.

The Salvation Army's Meyer and other nonprofits are also working on awareness campaigns, using brochures and billboards and other measures to try and bring more attention to the issue of sex trafficking even beyond the All-Star Game.

"That is always the goal, and even though there will be more of this activity, hopefully we're able to help and keep the momentum going," Meyer said.

Human Trafficking Hotlines

The local and national hotlines for law enforcement and human trafficking are the following:

Cincinnati Police: (513) 564-CALL

National Nonprofit Help Line: (888) 373-7888

Cincinnati Nonprofit Help Line: (513) 800-1863

For more information, visit www.endslaverycincinnati.org