Michigan State Police struck down rumors of excessive human trafficking in metro Detroit on Monday after a viral post said it was happening “very aggressively in our area.”
“Saw this making the rounds on Facebook. Human trafficking is serious but spreading rumors just doesn’t help at all,” said the tweet by Michigan State Police Metro Detroit, which was posted by Lt. Michael Shaw.
Police officials are not aware of any of the events in the viral post and have deemed them false.
Posts like this make their rounds on social media and police are aware of them, usually taking to social media themselves to “beat down those rumors,” said Shaw.
“If we had that big of a problem, we wouldn’t be tweeting about it,” he said. “We would be doing something. Some people believe everything they see on social media.”
And that, says Shaw, is a big problem for the department. He also said human trafficking is often perceived as a stranger pulling a child into a van outside of a mall. But that is not the case.
“Human trafficking usually stems from the internet,” said Shaw.
Human traffickers are more likely to gain the trust of someone online and then lure them to a location rather than scooping someone off the street, he said.
“There are cases in Michigan, we aren't trying to fool anyone,” said Shaw. Kidnappings by strangers "rarely ever happen," he said.”
He said the best way to ensure your children’s safety is to monitor their internet activity.
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