ESTERO, Fla. — It's been 38 years since Callahan Walsh's brother Adam was kidnapped murdered on Florida's east coast.
"I grew up with a brother I never met," said Callahan Walsh. "Adam was my brother who was abducted in 1981. My parents were quick to realize that law enforcement was woefully inept when it came to searching for missing children."
In the aftermath, his father John Walsh created the TV show "America's Most Wanted" to help bring dangerous criminals to justice, and helped establish the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Thursday, Callahan Walsh was the keynote speaker at Florida Gulf Coast University's annual symposium on human trafficking, attended by people working in law enforcement, as well as the legal and medical fields.
He said that officers need to focus on trying to establish trust with victims of human trafficking.
"(We need) to train law enforcement how to deal with survivors - how to make sure they're breaking the psychological handcuffs these children have with their exploiters," Walsh said.
Christy Ivie, founder of Christy's Cause, an Estero-based nonprofit working to eradicate child sex trafficking, agrees.
"That's where the perpetrator wants to keep the victim - in a constant state of being dependent on them," Ivie said.
While many trafficking cases lok different, she said the public should always report any situation that seems suspicious.
"Awareness is so vital, because these people are living among us," Ivie said. "They're hidden in plain sight."
To report a case of suspected human trafficking, you can call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888, or go online to Missingkids.org.
