We see it in movies with Liam Neeson as he rescues his “taken” daughter. We see it on TV from reruns of Law & Order Special Victims with Olivia Benson consoling a young boy, but rarely do we think about the commercial sexual exploitation of children when we consider our own hometowns. Yet, all over the globe, in nearly every area of the country, and every community and even here in Rhode Island, young children are being trafficked into sex slavery. Boys, girls, transgender youth, international and domestic children are made victims nearly every day.

Day One, a sexual assault and trauma center based out of Providence, along with Rhode Island’s Human Trafficking Task Force released their first ever streamlined and coordinated protocol for the identification and care of trafficked child victims Wednesday morning.

For the next several months they are focusing on statewide training not only for law enforcement, but medical and public transportation personnel as well as community outreach programs.

The press conference, brought to light a few, but not nearly all, the heartbreaking facts and statistics that come along with child trafficking.

Conservatively, it is estimated that anywhere between 100,000 and 300,000 underage girls are sold for sex in America alone, with 70 to 90 percent of those victims having previously experienced child sexual abuse.

On average these victims are forced into prostitution at the ages of 12 to 14 with the average trafficked victim in Rhode Island being only 15 years old. These children can be “sold” nearly 15 times a day.

Trafficking is increasing in popularity among criminals. The trafficking of persons is more lucrative and “safer” than the trafficking of drugs. Legally, very few cases are tried or won, and law enforcement has very few available avenues in which to capture and prosecute pimps, or the knowledge and education to spot a traffic victim, occasionally re-victimizing a young child, charging them for minor criminal offenses related to their predicament rather than helping them seek available resources for help.

Globally, human trafficking is estimated to be a $32 billion industry.

Despite the apparent widespread nature of this issue, it seems to slip under the radar. We see more coverage and information on child sex trafficking in the fictional world of entertainment than we do on our cable news channels. In general the common populace has no conception of just how commonplace human trafficking is nonetheless child trafficking.

We like to imagine children living perfect lives, experiencing this romanticized life full of playgrounds and ice cream cones. To actually think that there are children in these abhorrent conditions, forced into sex for someone else’s profit nightly, rightfully disturb us, breaks our hearts.

But to ignore these children, is to allow the abuse to continue.

By not educating ourselves, by remaining ignorant to the extensive commonality of human trafficking, we are denying ourselves the opportunity to help a child. If we ignore the issue, allow it to become non-existent within our consciousness, if we are to come across a victim, child or otherwise, we are unable to react.

When one becomes familiar with human trafficking, the signs and methods of helping we can reach out to victims and law enforcement possibly saving a victim from the continued abuse of human trafficking.

We can become our own Liam Neesons and Olivia Bensons and bring the fictional to life.