By Jason Evans

Staff Reporter

jevans@thepccourier.com

EASLEY — The Pickens County Advocacy Center wants to alert the community to signs of human trafficking in our area.

“We want to spread the word about human trafficking,” victim advocate Cristel Stancil said. “A lot of people are blinded to it. It’s happening here in the United States. It’s happening here in South Carolina.”

The center offers training on the issue, and Stancil wants to ramp up those efforts.

“I think everybody needs to be trained and educated on it, no matter who they are,” Stancil said. “Especially parents who have kids, or anybody who has kids — grandkids, foster kids, whatever.”

Starting conversations about human trafficking can be difficult, she said.

“A lot of people don’t like to talk about it, just like with sexual assault and sexual abuse,” Stancil said. “A lot of people think it’s an international problem, that it’s not happening here in the United States. It’s happening right in your own

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