A new movie out this month has raised concerns over human trafficking. You may have heard of it, it's called "Sound of Freedom" and has people asking questions about safety in the Valley.

An undercover Austintown officer tells 21 News the most vulnerable for human trafficking are those between the ages of six to 25 that are runaways, impoverished, mentally challenged or looking for love because they're easily groomed.

The conversation stems from the new movie Sound of Freedom about a human trafficking bust overseas where children were taken from the U.S. to be used for labor or sex. How often does that kind of thing happen in the valley?

"The idea of the kidnap into human trafficking it's a real thing, we haven't experienced that here, directly," said John Marshall Detectve Captain at the Niles Police Department. "It is very common especially outside of the United States," he said.

Locally, we're seeing those aforementioned vulnerable groups in dangerous situations.

"They're in environments where they're already in jeopardy of being victimized and a lot of times that 's how any experience we've had with any people being trafficked were involved," Marshall said.

An urban legend that surfaced as a result of this movie is kids routinely being snatched from Target parking lots or the like. Valley law enforcement says they've never seen a case like that locally, but wouldn't go as far as to say it could never happen.


If you or someone you know is a victim of human trafficking, there are several resources out there to help you get away from that, some of them are linked below:

Local law enforcement is also involved so you can reach out to them at any time.