Bend nonprofit helps hotels combat sex trafficking

Guardian Group is a Bend-based organization that has been fighting sex trafficking online since 2010. Over the past eight years, the nonprofit has offered online sex-trafficking training for hotel workers in Central Oregon and across the country.

So far, hotel or lodging organizations in five states have signed up for or completed the training: Oregon, California, Nevada, North Carolina and Wisconsin. Through the training, the group teaches people how to recognize and respond to a sex-trafficking incident.

“We give people that practical but actionable approach that separates us from everyone else,” said Charlie Beal, the head of the online training site. “We just wanted to make it as comprehensible (as possible), so everyone can make a difference.”

The training began three years ago, when the group focused on Portland. Since then, they have moved on to California, partnering with the California Hotel and Lodging Association.

Once 80 percent of a hotel’s staff is trained, the hotel will be known as a “sealed” hotel. They’ll get a Guardian Group symbol to put in their windows, to warn pimps that sex trafficking isn’t allowed there — and they will get caught.

The group promotes a newer state of mind, Beal said, since in the past, there was an issue of people having an attitude of “not my problem” when it came to sex trafficking. Since the Me Too movement became a hot topic in the news, more people have felt called to action.

“It brings the focus back on the kids,” Beal said. “Tiny kids are being trafficked, sexually assaulted and brutalized.”

Moving forward, Guardian Group plans to tackle the biggest challenge of all: Las Vegas. Beal said eight hotels in the city associated with a casino are going to start the training.

In addition, Bend is working to become a “sealed “city by mid-July. That means all local hotels, law enforcement, hospitals, corporations and schools will be trained, which will help keep sex trafficking out of the area.

In the end, the growth in training means “more eyes trained, more lives saved,” according to Guardian Group and Beal.

Hear from the organization and check out the online training in our story Tuesday night on NewsChannel 21 Fox @ 4 and KTVZ at 5 and 6.