| For Immediate Release August 23, 2013 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami
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SUPPORT GROWS FOR “KEEP CALM & BEAT H.E.A.T. ROCKING & RALLY”
SANTA ANA – Support is growing for the Orange County District Attorney’s Office (OCDA) “Keep Calm and Beat H.E.A.T. Rocking & Rally” on Sept. 9, 2013, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Twila Reid Park, 3100 West Orange Avenue, Anaheim. There will be police patrol cars, informational booths, food trucks, free frozen yogurt, and a rock concert.
This year, the OCDA will host this first-of-its-kind event along with its co-sponsors to fight against Human Trafficking and Exploitation (H.E.A.T.) as part of a new initiative to go after perpetrators of human trafficking and exploitation with vigor, while taking a comprehensive approach to solve the problem and bring community stakeholders together.
Twila Reid Park was chosen as the location because it is less than a mile from Beach Boulevard and Ball Road in Anaheim, an area known to law enforcement to be a high-prostitution area and frequently used by individuals who sexually exploit and traffic women and underage girls for financial gain.
The OCDA announced in April 2013 that it was forming the Human Exploitation and Trafficking (HEAT) Unit, which targets perpetrators who sexually exploit and traffic women and underage girls for financial gain, including pimps, panderers, and human traffickers. Commercial sex trafficking is the second most lucrative criminal enterprise behind narcotics trafficking. Often the perpetrators are gang members and/or career criminals.
The HEAT Unit also targets defendants who create a demand for prostitution by soliciting and purchasing sex, which increases the commercial sexual exploitation of women and children. The HEAT Unit uses a tactical plan called PERP: Prosecution of human trafficking perpetrators and sex purchasers; Education for law enforcement to properly handle human trafficking and pandering cases; Resources to raise public awareness and provide assistance to the victims; and Publicity to inform the community about the problem and notify human traffickers and sex purchasers that this crime cannot be perpetrated without suffering severe consequences.
“Keep Calm and Beat H.E.A.T. Rocking & Rally” will raise community awareness through the media campaign for the event.