In a powerful interview, It’s Your Business, Richard Muscio sits down with Saved in America’s Suzi Day and founder Joseph Travers to discuss the immensely important work this organization is doing nationwide. Joseph Travers, a former police detective, licensed private investigator, and Navy veteran, started Saved In America (SIA) to combat the problem he was seeing developing in America about human trafficking. 

It’s Not a Problem Just “Over There”

Many people, when contemplating the problem of human trafficking, also known as modern-day slavery, believe that it is a problem that only impacts other countries. After all, how could such atrocities happen within the shores of the most powerful and free nation in the world? Unfortunately, human trafficking does happen in our own beloved America, and it is growing thanks to the triad of evil made up of prison gangs, street gangs, and drug cartels. This growing evil was the impetus for the creation of SIA, and the reason they began conducting rescue missions for missing and exploited girls in 2014. 

SIA Works in Conjunction With Law Enforcement Agencies

Due to the background of the creators and volunteers of SIA in law enforcement, there is a great deal of respect for law enforcement within the organization. SIA is not designed to take the place of law enforcement or to be some sort of vigilante group that doesn’t consider the letter of the law. Instead, it works alongside law enforcement, helping them meet the ever-growing need that they simply don't have the manpower or the resources to address. To consider the scope of the problem, one only has to note that there are between 3,400 and 8,100 victims of exploitation, including child sex trafficking, annually in San Diego alone. This shows the scope of what law enforcement organizations have to deal with nationwide, and it is simply impossible for them to meet the growing problem. 

Team Effort

Once a missing child is located, the SIA team informs law enforcement and then they are called in to do the rescue. There are no snatch-and-grab jobs with SIA. Instead, everything is methodical and orderly to ensure that the recovery is completed according to the law and doesn’t further traumatize the victims.