Empowerment and Vigilance: Crystal Millán on Women's Firearms Training and Combating Human Trafficking

Hi, welcome to the Arm Guardian podcast, season two, episode two. I'm your host, brian, and today we're gonna be releasing a special guest episode for this month. January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month, and our guest today will be Crystal Malon, from South Florida. She's a firearms instructor specializing in women's training, and she's a huge advocate against human trafficking. So sit back, enjoy today's episode and learn how you can step up and help fight the human trafficking. Hi, welcome to the Arm Guardian podcast. Today we've got Crystal Malon is the South Florida instructor and she teaches a women's program and she's gonna talk to us about a topic that's near and dear to her heart. So how are you doing today, crystal?

Hi, brian, I'm gonna do a wonderful. I woke up, so that was a good start for me.

Always good.

Absolutely.

Alright, well, kind of briefly did a brief intro on you, but why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself? And how did you get interested into firearms?

Alrighty, I'm Crystal and I got into firearms many, many years ago. I like to work predominantly with women. I do have male clients as well, but I prefer to work with women, especially the one with little to no experience. I got into training women more so than men, just because of the experience I had previously when I had male instructors when I started and there were times I felt a little bit intimidated or I didn't feel comfortable Not that there's not some really great male instructors out there, but I did have some encounters that left me a little uneasy. Right.

So when I felt that women can relate to women a little bit more and that is exactly why I started doing this and working with women- Okay, yeah, it's kind of like whenever I have a husband and wife or boyfriend, girlfriend take a class together, I'll let them sit together in the class, but whenever I get them out on the firing line I like to put them on opposite ends, just because that intimidation it kind of relaxes the inexperienced person or keeps the competition down a little bit between them. Or know the one saying you're not doing it right and no, that's my job, you shoot what I'm telling you and stuff. But yeah, I get the women. I do the women's program with the USCCA and I've had excellent results from it and a lot of good reviews from ladies and people that have taken that. I've even had some some guys with ladies that are willing to allow the guys to step in. I had some that just popped into a gun range that I did. I was doing a women's basic and they said we're here for the gun class, this is a women's class and oh okay, I said well, let me ask the ladies is they're okay with you guys coming in? And they both the lady said yes, so the two guys. I let them come in and had fun. It was interesting and come to find out there is a another program that was at a venue event down the road that they had signed up for and was supposed to be at, so I'll take them and yeah, definitely and they seem to have fun and but yeah, women, there's a big difference between women and men in firearms training and I've been in the military before and in law enforcement. I know how people people in general, even females can be a little overbearing or come off as authoritarian and that kind of is intimidating to certain people, male and female. So I, just with the women, I come off, I don't, I tell them. When I we go out on the range I said I'm not gonna yell at you unless you do something really unsafe to get your attention. But I said I'm not the drill sergeant, I'm not the police officer telling you to yell and for you to stop or anything, but I want you to have fun, be safe and and learn something. And so far that's worked for me and I actually the women's program is one of my bigger class forces that I teach over basic concealed carry.

So yeah, oh yeah. It's great, though I the women that I work with. They always get happy that I offer this class exclusively to women because of, like you know, I really wanted to be around women and I have women that have been a victim of sexual assaults and they don't want a man anywhere near them, unfortunately. So they feel a lot more comfort when they go to a woman for classes like this, right, not only that, but I've seen some instructors male and female, both, but a lot more male that are more tactical, and then the ladies feel like, oh my goodness, you know, I have to be a sniper, my leaf here. And I'm like, no, you don't. And the last thing I want to do is to any of my students has come across as somebody that's gonna be a drill sergeant and call them names or anything else, and they're like, oh my goodness, you're so mean. I don't want, I don't want to scare them off right because what I want them to do is leave confident and empowered right, and I do everything with my women and baby steps. So, like I said, most of them are new either. They've never even seen one need to see in a firearm in person, so this is their very first time and they're nervous the media has played a major role in that too, because they think the firearm is just gonna go off by itself, right, and they're terrified.

There's that there's that, and then no men in general, or males of no we're for you know, just tell me how to do it and not are. Give me the gun and I'll figure it out where the women are very visited. They ask questions and I love that. That. You know that we get. We sometimes get drawn out in the women's classes because they're so information hungry when it comes to the firearm, especially if they're taking the class and really looking for it for other than if they're looking for self-defense instead of just, hey, it's something, let me take this class. I've never, you know, taken a firearms class before something.

And, yeah, they get more inquisitive, of no more detail oriented and but, I, love that and it just goes to the two different teaching styles between men and women basically absolutely, because everybody has their way of teaching, right, and then certain students are receptive to one way than the other. So, like I said, you might be a great fit for me in the type of training that I do, but then there's also gonna be an instructor that's better suited for your needs, right? So it's not a one-size-fits-all. So you go to the person that you feel is best for you and make sure you do your research right get somebody that's gonna do the right training. I've had several students that have taken classes with other instructors that they didn't feel comfortable and they ended up leaving the class right, and I don't want that, you know. I want them to keep coming back for more right, yeah yeah, I've actually got an episode coming up.

We're gonna be talking with Amy Lucas and part of the interview with her is gonna be how to vet out your no instructors if you're people looking for classes, because no, just because someone's an instructor doesn't mean that well, I don't want to throw people under the bus, but as law enforcement and military, we have that authoritative background and sometimes we can be a little overbearing and there's some that you know, just personalities, because if you get somebody that's a meek, mild person, but then the instructor is that authoritarian instructor, then it's gonna put up a barrier wall that's gonna block part of that learning process for the student and I try to keep that wall down and that's part of the the feedback that I've gotten from some of the females that know that have taken, like you said, have taken classes with other Instructors and they just they don't feel comfortable, they feel that the instructor was talking over their head.

Right, and then they shut down. Yeah, and once that, you know, once that Part of the brain is just shut down, it's like, okay, I'm done. It's difficult for them. Right yeah it's almost like if you get bit by a dog, then you don't trust dogs anymore. Right, you're like oh my goodness, you know I'm afraid, but we don't want that. They need to be comfortable and they need to be Empowered by their you know the training that they're getting.

Yeah, yeah, fully agree with you well. We kind of jumped in without asking question to. But no, I'll ask it and know if there's anything else you want to add. It was so what led you to become an instructor and your Focus on women's training, and we I know we briefly talked on it, but do you anything else you want to add to that question?

No, it's just really based off experiences that I've had in the past and being a woman and, you know, wanting to be with Someone that gets me. You know and knows my needs as a woman and Some of the negative experiences that I've had. It really just put me in a Path to go forward and just help other women that might feel the same way I did previously.

Okay you see, do you see a large of Influx or a large amount of ladies that are interested in your classes down there in South Florida? Because I know up here in South Georgia where a real rural area where I'm at and Everybody's grown up around firearms- and right has hunted or no, they're involved in shooting. And there's, there's still that Group. That is new and everything will just look at the since 2020, the new firearms owners. I think the last I saw it was over five million firearms owners and I think about 58% of them, if I remember, were women. So Women are getting very Inquisitive and, no, it's just a sign of the times to know people are concerned about our government, the Downfall or not the downfall, but the minimizing of the law enforcement. No, a lot of officers are leaving the fields, a lot of the departments are having problems recruiting and, no, it puts a big burden on law enforcement, so it's going to reduce their response time. So I tell everybody, you've got to be your own first responder. The Calvary is coming, but you're gonna have to take initial action.

So you're right about that, and I saw him the same thing. You cannot count on anybody else to come to your rescue, right? It's gonna take time, and you don't have time when the situation goes south, right. So down here in South Florida we do have a lot of women that are interested. Not only that, but with crime rates, the way they are. Oftentimes I'll get a woman contact me and say listen, I just had my hope. My house was just almost broken into and I'm terrified and I felt like so defenseless. What do I do? If they were to get in? I'm in trouble. So I do get those calls or they've been a victim of some serious crime and that's when we got to get the call. Unfortunately, we're very Reactive. We wait for something bad to happen. Then we realize, wait a minute, right, I should probably do something about this and take control. Yeah, I don't like those situations. So I try and do a lot of promoting with my students on what you can do to prevent yourself from becoming a victim. That's the number one thing is prevention, right? Yeah, but yeah, we do have a lot of women down here that are seeking their training, not just with me, but many others. We're seeing a lot of women that are interested, which is a good thing.

Okay, all right. Oh, thank you for that. Well, david had a question about what calibers and types of firearms are you seeing women leaning towards in your area there in South Florida?

Well, I know a lot of them are told to get the smallest one possible because easy to conceal. Unfortunately, they hear that often and then they come to me and I ask some questions like what did you buy? And I said well, you know, I got this little bitty. I don't even know what it is, it's just really cute and tiny. I was like, well, what caliber? I don't know, it's pink, you know one of those things. Yeah so I try and educate them on that and I always tell them you know you need to go out and try them Right and get a feel. Put them in your hands, get to the range and try them out, because otherwise You're just gonna guess. And then when you do get a chance to go to the range and fire it, you're terrified. It's got a lot of recoil, you can't really grip it properly and then it sits at home Really concealed in your dresser drawer somewhere and it's never used Right. So I like to. If they can use a 9 millimeter, that's great. Yeah, the ones that I've seen them get more so now are like the sig P 365 that's what I have as my everyday carry is a 365 XL. The Smith and Wesson shield they like that, or the easy shield, but a lot of times they have a difficult time where I can to slide, so that one's a really popular one. Yeah, for the women that struggle with that. Um, the Glock 43 X.

Love that. That's my primary carry.

Yeah, that's a great one.

Yeah.

I love that one A few. This Springfield Hillcat, hellcat, let's see now, but just the normal. You know every day. What I don't like is when they go to a range I mean go to a gun show and they're just looking on the tables and the prettiest one they see like, oh, it's pink. Without any research, it's just like, ah, let's not do that and they have to be educated because I don't know, or maybe a friend of others is like, hey, you have to get this firearm. Yeah and then they they never even tried it. I tell them it's like wearing a pair of shoes. If you ask me what shoes should I wear, and I just say, oh, you have to wear this because I love it is great. And then you put it on and you got corns or bunions. It could be a problem for you. I don't know your feet. Right. So you have to really try them out, but stay away from those little tiny. I mean, it's just my opinion.

Yeah, it's like I know on Facebook. I can't remember if you Like this one. I think he did, but I had a college student. Her dad signed her up for a class and they're all Into firearms. She was in into the place where she was moving out of the dorm when she went back to college and Was going to be living off campus so dad wanted her to have some training and I worked with her one-on-one dad was a big sick fan and he gave him. Let his daughter use his wife's gun and she came, she shot it and she said I'm not, it doesn't feel comfortable. But that's a dad's a big stick person and he wants me to try this and that will try my, my block 43 X. And she tried it and she says, oh, this is nice and I can handle it. It fits my hand good, it's balanced. And I told her dad about it. He said, well, if that's what she wants, if she can shoot that the Gawson, okay gun, so I'll get her a gun. Well, whenever he ordered it for whenever it came in it was a Sarah coated with pink and sparkle and everything and she shot it and she had fun with it. But it's just like. I also carry alternate sometimes with a 40 caliber, but I have a Taurus G2C and I like the 40 caliber, I like the Taurus. Taurus is a great gun. They've evolved greatly in each move that they've made, coming from Brazil to Miami to up here in Southwest Georgia. Now their quality control has been on point. They've always had good revolvers, but that's another thing. I'll get people that'll come to a class and they bought their first gun or being a gun. And either it's a revolver or it's a semi-auto that a gun store has sold them because and nothing against the Smith and Wesson Shield. But I find a lot of ladies, especially elderly, are people with grip issues that maybe the gun store didn't qualify them first before pushing it. They have a problem gripping that grip safety to deactivate that safety and I wish Smith would, I think they do, but it's I don't see it all that often is the easy without that grip safety And-.

I agree with you. I really don't like that grip safety at all. Like we said, everybody has the right firearm for them, and if that's what you like, go for it. It's not for me.

Yeah.

But if you tried it and you're comfortable with it, by all means go for it. And it's like Personally.

Yeah, it's like with the revolver too, I'll the lady will come. I've had some elderly ladies come up with a snub nose.

Yes 57.

And I'm like, okay, have you shot this yet? No, no, this is what gun store? Or my husband bought me and everything, so so where are you going to keep it? And then they, we talk about that my purse. Yeah, pretty much the purse. And well, let's put, put around in the cylinder and let's see how you handle it, and that first shot or two. And then they decide real quickly that the snub nose, and especially the 357, is not what they wanted. And a lot of people don't realize. The shorter the barrel, the more the recoil they're going to have and they don't understand that that dissipation of the gases once that door barrel goes through, the bullet goes out of the barrel. That excess energy's got to go somewhere, and that's what causes the kick. And then a lot of people end up going to a little bit larger, three inch or four inch frame revolver, if they stick with the revolver. And then we've got the double action with the elderly purse oh yeah, it's harder. And that doesn't have the strength to pull that trigger.

Yeah, they just don't know. It's unfortunate, you know, when they go somewhere in a gun store, well, so you need this one, and they buy it without any questions, and then they go home. Sometimes they never even fired it, they're just like, well, I'll just, if I needed one day I'll use it, but that's not the time.

Yeah, I love the initial range that I started that let me start coming in and training with them. I had just gotten certified with the USCCA, came back up looking for places to teach and everything, and I went into this one range and asked them. I said, hey, I'm a firearms instructor and gave them my spiel and they said, well, we actually need someone, cause the person that we have is a deputy in the county and he's on the SWAT team, he's a drug task person, he's an investigator and every time he tries to schedule a class he gets called out or gets called into work and stuff, and so I was lucky that I got my foot in there and it's been a profitable. April will be four years that I've been teaching with them and. But they're a gun store and a indoor range and they have a plethora of rentals that people can use, ranging from a 22 up to a 45. They've got a couple of revolvers that they typically have and I love that. They are, to me, the best people because they'll let people try their rentals in the style of the gun that they're using. And then they really ask the questions that need to be asked to the people when they're looking. And it's just finding that perfect store that you can go to and if you have somebody that says, hey, try this gun, but the store you go to doesn't have a range or anything, find somebody that has a gun similar to that same style that you were told to try out before you go spend the money to buy, because a lot of some of the gun stores you can buy the gun and if you try it and it just doesn't fit you, they'll let you bring it back, but it's just like driving a car off the line.

Exactly.

You bring it back, you're not gonna get the value that you got when you walked out the door with it.

Yeah, I like to bring different firearms in for my students. So normally when I start them out I have a Sig P322. So it doesn't terrify them too much. So we try out that. And then I'll let them shoot my Sig P365 and they feel the difference. And then I have a red dot on it as well, so they can see the difference between iron sights and a red dot sight. Many times like, can I just use the P322 for my everyday carry in my home? I'm like, well, I mean you can, I wouldn't stand in front of it. I can tell you that. But do I recommend it? No, but if that's all you've got, that's on you. But I do like to try different ones.

Yeah, it's like with the women that I do, especially if they don't have a pistol or they've never fired a pistol. I have a Taurus TX22 that I use to inoculate them to the action and everything, because you don't have the recoil that you do with a 389 or anything and it gets some more. I find that it's more comfortable for them when we transition to the 9, 3, 8 or something that they already know what's going to happen with the slide, how a little bit of the recoil is, so it's just fine tuning that grip and stance with them.

Yeah, that's exactly what I do, so I'll start them out easy and then we kind of transition into something that's a little bit more challenging. But, like you said, they're now adjusted, they understand things a little bit better and they move on, and when I do bring different firearms in, they're just like oh yeah, I like this one better. No, now they realize why it's important to fire them off a few times and see how they feel in your hands and get the best one that fits your needs, because sometimes you've got people with really tiny hands and then maybe they're too big or whatever. They can have nerve damage, like I do. I shake, I don't really have much feelings in my fingertips, so I got to find something that's going to be comfortable in my hands and the best way for them is really to try them out. Ok, yeah.

I really like that and I've let people use my. I bring several different firearms with me and I'll let them try it. If they seem like they're having a problem with theirs, I'll pull out mine and let them shoot a couple times just to see if it's the gun or if it's a shooter issue or the size of the gun issue with them so. Ok. The next question was living in a warmer climate in South Florida. What are some of the ways, whether off body or on body, are you seeing women carry concealed down there?

So down here because it is warm, that means less clothing for a lot of people and it's a little bit more difficult to conceal, carry if you're not really wearing much. So I've seen women that use the cross body, the purses like fanny packs always good too. They use fanny packs. Now I prefer to have my firearm on my person. But there are times where you're like, ok, I really can't fit anything in here. But as far as if they're wearing skirts and dresses, the thigh holsters are great. I have one that I love it. It's somebody I favorite thigh holster and I wear it often very comfortable. And then the other way is like the belly bands. I see women using the belly bands. But you gotta remember it's hot here and the more layers you have on those belly bands depending on which one you get are extremely hot.

Yeah. And so. I know I've seen advertised. I know that there are ladies that carry them like this, and it's more so the micro compacts, but I mentioned it to the ladies just as an option, but no, the bra holster.

Oh yeah.

I haven't met anyone that actually wears one, but I know that there are people out there because evidently they're selling them and people are interested in them. But just how you know, finding someone that's actually got some firsthand wear experience with it and of course a lot of it's gonna depend on the size of the firearm. It can't be a full size Glock 19 that you're carrying there.

Oh yeah.

It may be but doubtful.

Yeah, you know I haven't ever personally used them. I've known a few people who have. Some were like it's not necessarily for me, Doesn't mean it's not, you know, not gonna work for somebody else, but I don't really see that one too much. I don't see them using it. Do you see more of the belly bands and the cross bags or fanny packs? So it's just, you know, depending on your body type too, it's gonna make a big difference.

Yeah, it's like I tell people when they start if they've never concealed, carry before. You know, try different positions. You know the holsters. You're gonna run through the gamut of holsters, you know you're gonna buy one. This doesn't fit or wear, right. Then you buy another one and be prepared to spend some money and find them that bright holster for you.

But yeah, yeah and you usually don't just have one, you have many Like I have several, because depending on what I'm wearing, you know, in certain clothing, like if I wear a blouse that's print has print on it, it's easier to conceal, it's a little bit bigger and looser and I can carry, you know, appendix, or I can carry a belly band, even those bra holsters. You can do with those as well. So it really just depends on what you're wearing that day and sometimes you have to adjust to have it work for whatever holster or firearm you're carrying. Right, yeah, okay.

That seems to be pretty much. You know, I lived in South Florida. After I got out of high school I moved down. I was down, I lived in Fort Lauderdale before I went into the military. Yeah, I know how hot it gets. And of course, after I got out and got into law enforcement, I was living in North Florida and still had the hot, but we had cooler. It wasn't as hot as South Florida, but it was still hot there.

Yeah, and I'm on the beach, so I'm like you know, beach is five minutes away, so we do have a little bit of a breeze sometimes, but that humidity is what gets us. So if you have these belly bands on in certain types of holster, you're just sweating, you just. It's just too much.

For about a year before I went into the military, moved, got out of the military, lived down there for about six months before I moved out to North Florida but I lived down off the Griffith Road down there in Fort Lauderdale in between Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood.

Yeah, I know where that side is, not too far. I'm on the beach side, so I'm in Fort Lauderdale Beach, closer to Pompano Beach, so it's like which is really grown is pretty nice. So they're not. It wasn't like it used to be. It's beautiful, so it's attracted a lot more people Every day. We have so many people moving here, and the good thing about so many people moving here if there is a good thing about so many people is the fact that a lot of them are moving from places that are not, let's see, in a grand Wippa 2A community. They really don't like it. So when they move here, the first thing they wanna do is I wanna buy a gun. I get that all the time. That's the first thing at the shooting range is funny, cause you see all these people from up North and they're like or California, they're like let me try it. And they're so excited Cause they're like where we come from, we're not allowed to own a firearm or protect ourselves. So that is. One good thing about people moving here is we have a lot of people who are now really interested in firearm ownership.

Okay, that's great. Okay, well, we talked about firearms. Now we'll transition over to part of the reason why I wanted to bring you on was to about human trafficking awareness. So what led you to be an advocate on human trafficking and how are you making an impact on this issue?

I got started in the human trafficking many years ago and recently the movie came out, the Sound of Freedom, which now a lot more people are aware of the problem, and I've been trying to get this message out for quite a while now and people are like, ah, it's not really a big deal. I'm like, no, it really is. So when this movie came out, it really opened up a lot of opportunities for me to get the message out, because it's a big problem and when we had COVID, when everything was shut down and everybody was on the computers, it really just was a floodgate for these types of crimes to be committed. I'm what I think in Florida we're number three in human trafficking, so it's a big problem. Here we have Florida, new York, texas. Those are just some of the states that are experienced a lot of problems with this. I don't know where you're at. Do you guys have a big problem?

Well, georgia is. I don't. I haven't seen the rankings in a while, but Georgia does have some issues because of especially up around Metro Atlanta.

Oh yeah.

It's a big international airport. There's a lot of traffic going through Atlanta all the time. And I know right now I drive a truck at night and I've driven the truck for since I got retired out of law enforcement for the last 15 years and I've always seen it in truck stops on the sex side, the people walking around in the truck stop and the John's Park somewhere in the parking lot watching and everything. And I know it's been around for quite a while and more so in the trucking industry is where I've seen it.

So yeah, there's actually I'm not to cut you off, but there's an organization or a program for truck drivers. I don't know if you're familiar with it, but the training I know there's stickers and stuff, but that's a good program to get involved in.

It is, and a lot of trucking companies now mandate that when a driver comes in through orientation, they actually walk them through the presentation that they have on human trafficking how to call and what you need to have whenever you recall in. So oh good. That's a big thing that I'm glad to see that they're doing, because that was part of what in the early years of my younger years my dad drove trucks for a while and it was. It gave trucking a bad name with the sexual trafficking at the truck stops and stuff like that, and there wasn't anything really being done about it for the most part. But I'm glad to see that people are stepping up and making a voice now to try to bring awareness and prevent it.

And there are so many programs. The US Department of Homeland Security has the blue campaign. I don't know if you're familiar with that, but it's great and there's so many free resources that you can go on. Log on to the website and get. There's also a one hour class. I highly recommend every person take this one hour class. It's free and it really gives you a better understanding. The best thing that we can do is like as a community, everyone get involved, because if one person can identify a person at risk or stop it, you just saved that person a lifetime of heartache. And from what we've experienced, speaking to survivors, they said you know, if somebody would have just recognized I was being trafficked, I wouldn't have to spend years suffering. We can't turn our eyes or turn our head the other direction and not think it's, you know, not my problem, because it is. It's every one of our problems and it can happen to your family. Any one of us can fall victim to this, so we need to wake up and all work together to end it. That's a huge industry. I mean, back in the day it was drugs, now it's human trafficking, because a person can be resold over and over and we got to all work together just to put a stop to it.

And it leads into, you know, with the sex side of it, pornography rings and stuff like that, and it's a big issue, bigger than what a lot of people think it is. They don't realize how wide of a reach it is as far as the human trafficking. You know, they say human trafficking and their mindset is a narrow view of it. Take off the blinders and see the whole problem. And whenever I mention it and start talking to people about that, they think I've never really thought of that or that's a bigger problem than what I thought. I always thought it was this and wake a lot of people up.

Yeah, people don't really know what human trafficking is. They hear about, but they don't really know exactly what it is. And they get also they get human smuggling and trafficking confused. They think it's the same thing, but it's, you know, in fact it's not. It's two different things. So human smuggling and human trafficking are completely different crimes. Yeah. But we do classes. We teach classes on how to identify people that may be at risk, and oftentimes they'll groom their victims Right, they're very good at it. They seek people that are struggling with something in life or, you know, maybe they come from a broken home or they're living in poverty. Right. And they'll go after these people. Very, very sad, but it's a big industry. A lot of money is made through these people exploiting others.

Yep, that's for sure.

Yeah, I have a program, I'm sorry. I have a program called Not Not Participating and this is the sex trafficking part of it, and I like to make learning fun. So what I do is I'll do events like bingo and trivia nights and it's all geared towards like human trafficking or sex trafficking and it's a lot of fun. But then you know, if you don't want to go and take this class online, I highly suggest do want to borrow events, because they are a lot of fun and everybody's laughing at a good time but at the same time they're learning about these problems. And then we give out pamphlets and these little cards that help to identify people that may be at risk and it gives them the tools and the resources to report it. But no matter what you do, you got to do something. Right.

Okay, All right. Well, our next question is, you know, human trafficking, and we've kind of touched on this one as well. It's more than a big city problem, isn't it?

It's all over. It can be in a rural area, it's everywhere. It's not like, oh you know well, it's only gonna be in New York City or in Miami, it's everywhere. And with the internet they've got a lot more exposure. They can reach your children from home. You name it, they'll find you. It doesn't matter where you're at.

And once they get you sucked in, they move around very easily and they used a lot of the fear and the threat of family and stuff whenever they are doing this.

And it's.

if you don't do this, I'm gonna let your family know that XYZ and it's a lot of, A lot of issues, and they just don't realize how quickly they can move them from point A to point B without or anybody really realizes what's going on.

Oh yeah, yeah, they're really good at that. They're grooming, they manipulate people. They also do a lot of stuff through social media and online platforms. You know they can plan for a job. You're going to go for a job and you go do something like that. It's trafficking. There's a lot of those false job offers that they offer and get you sucked in like that before you even realize it. And then there's the kidnapping and abduction part of it, but I think more so of online and just finding the right victim. Right, yeah. And the problem too is, I see, I don't know how it is in Georgia, but where we're at. I have my grandkids, for instance, and I watch everything they do. I'm very aware of things and they're very in tune because I've trained them. But I've seen people with their children running around in public and they're not watching them, whether it be at a store, at a playground, and I'm like do you know how quickly your child can be abducted and sold? And people don't think it's going to happen to them. They're like no, I'm not worried, you're just too paranoid. I'm like, no, do you understand where we live at? We're third right now, maybe even up to more, I don't know, but we're third. Why take that chance? You have to be observant and watch what your children are doing.

Yeah, it's not like the era whenever I grew up. I'm 57 and I remember being left at home while my mom a single mom worked and I was out in the woods, me and a friend. We were building forts, playing army.

Oh yeah, me too.

You, just you didn't worry about all this because it wasn't as prevalent as it is today's age. I think a lot of that is what you've kind of briefly touched on is technology. It's the device of the internet where the citizen has greatly opened up the floodgate for illegal activity and grooming and stuff like that.

Yeah, it's very easy for them to use the internet to solicit their victims. The next thing you know, before you know it, you're stuck, you're trapped.

It's like I told my youngest daughter when she was younger and we started allowing her to play play station and stuff like that, these people that are you know talk to you and stuff. They may send her a picture an envelope and stuff and that picture may not be that person, Even though they say that. Yeah, that's me, I'm 14, but maybe they sound like a 14 year old, but they're actually 23 and looking for ulterior motives.

Well, you can watch those shows all the time, like what to catch a pedophile or whatever they're called, whatever they call them, and they set people up and you see it all the time. This is not an uncommon thing. This is happening so often. It's very unfortunate, but they always find a way.

Okay, what are some signs that people can look for that are indicators that someone is possibly being trafficked.

Yeah, so one of the easiest signs is like physical. So if you see wounds, different stages of healing, you know they've obviously been beaten, scars or malnourishment. You know maybe they're not healthy. If you see them out in public, they might be very anxious, may not make eye contact with people. You know you can usually if you have a sense something isn't right. It probably isn't, you know, I'm sorry. Somebody just walked out here. They're, you know, depressed, you know anxious. Any of those signs are a pretty good indicator. If they're out in public with somebody, does a person look like a person that should be with them? If you ask them a question, are they answering it or is the other person answering for them? Right. You know, because now it's like I can't really speak for myself because I've got this person watching over me. Do they have a problem communicating? Especially if it's like a different language, too, that could be a problem. Yeah yeah, are they submissive or fearful? There's just some of the signs that are pretty common that you see that, if we can spot it, I have a whole list of ways to identify. There's too much to even mention right now, but there's. If you go online, you could take the class Okay, it's going to show you so many things. And then there's these little cards that you can keep on your person. So if you're not sure, you can use it as, like a little reference tool. You're like, okay, well, let me see here. Oh yeah, this is definitely one of the signs. Now, do you want to go up and approach somebody at that point, because it can be dangerous for you? Right yeah. You know you may not want to say, oh, I know you're being trapped and then you can be wrong, so but you do want to report it. Take as many notes as you can and call the authorities and say listen, I'm at this store or wherever you're at. I think that there's a possibility that somebody could be being trafficked. Yeah, not 100% sure, but why not give it a shot and check it out? Do a little bit of investigating.

Yeah, and no big thing for me coming from the law enforcement side is body language. Just watch the body language of the couple or the group and you'll see if somebody is uncomfortable. And I know I've seen on the internet the sign where the thumb is wrapped.

Yeah, oh yeah.

And I've heard that. I haven't personally seen that, but I've seen where it's read, for that is one of the signs that they have told gotten to the victims to possibly catch somebody's attention.

So yeah, and it works. If you, if you can do that and somebody is aware of that's the sign that's great. And you're right, Body language is everything. So that's why I say, if you look at somebody and they just something doesn't seem right, Something looks really off. If it's a child, usually they're happy, they're playful, you know. You know kids are. But if they're just sitting there like, almost like a dog, with his tail between his leg, that's a really good indicator that something could be wrong and we shouldn't sit back and, you know, think, well, I'm not going to even worry about it Because there's a. You know, if it's nothing, it's nothing, that's great, Right, it doesn't hurt if you just maybe go the extra mile and find out, like you know, contact the authorities or contact the blue campaign. There's like a number you can call there and say hey, you know, I got this situation.

Yeah.

Somebody can check it out?

No, and as far as the recording, you know, yeah, we don't want to, for your own safety, get involved. Unless there, you know, unless you absolutely have to, I won't go into you know anything more, because I don't want to advocate people jumping in and taking things into their own hands. But with today's technology you know we've got cell phones, you know with a group of people you know and you see someone that you think might be trafficked, or they get into a vehicle that you know, you think and you're with a group. Hey, y'all come around, let me take a picture. And you've got a picture, evidence, where you know maybe they can get a tag, maybe they can get enough of a picture of the face where they can identify or run facial on someone if they really think it's a valid case. So just be smart about it, you know, be this visual document and find every way that you can to if you can record a situation like with the photo or something.

Definitely I would encourage that. Yeah, I think that gets some evidence, because if you just approach somebody and you're not sure it could be really, I mean it can get into a really ugly situation for you. But if you're taking, like you know, investigative steps, you're recording, like you said, and contact the authorities or get whatever evidence you have, I mean I think that's the best bet at that time.

Okay. Next question is how can people get involved to help stop human trafficking? I know you mentioned the knots program. Is that something that they can take online through you, or your website.

Yeah, so they can reach out to me, and I have a really good presentation and some information on human trafficking and tons of resources. And then there's also the blue campaign. It's great for people to go on there. There's tons of resources that are just, I mean, endless. You can even request brochures and these cards off of free. They'll send them to you. All right, but yeah, either one, if not, just go online and research, because I'm telling you, there's so many places that are offering. You may not live near me if you can't come in a person class, but I do online as well, but maybe you want to do something in person. There's plenty of programs out there for everyone. Okay, all right.

How can people find out more about your training and information on human trafficking? I know you kind of briefly spoke about some of that, but I know you've got your own training company If you want to put that out there and any contact or email that you want to get put on, and I'll make sure that gets put in the show notes.

Oh yeah, so you can go to my website. It's wwwi like the letter I got her sixcom. So you know we usually say I got your six, because I work with women, I got her six. So they can reach that. And on my website I have many of the different programs that I offer, as well as some resources and links to the blue campaign and other campaigns to combat human trafficking. Okay.

And I think you've got a contact, if I remember right the page on there where they can type in their name and email and leave a message that goes to you.

Oh for sure, yeah, yeah, they can go right on that contact form and I'm very responsive. I always talk to people, listen, unless I'm in the middle of a class or something. I'm very responsive. You're not going to wait to hear back from me days and days later and you're not going to get somebody that you can't understand because I don't have an assistant and I'm not paying somebody overseas to take my calls and I'd like to. You know, one of the things that I miss about businesses is that you know one-on-one with them. Right, everything is automated these days and I'm not about that. So if you reach out to me, you're going to get me and I'm able to answer any type of questions that you have, and if I don't know something, I will find out for you.

That's the way that I work. I take every call personally myself. My business number goes to my cell phone and I'm pretty responsive, unless I'm in a position where I can't answer it or can't get into it.

But you know I tell people leave a voicemail and or email me and I will get back with them and get the information that they are needing or get them the advice that they're needing, so important for them to be able to reach us and unfortunately, in today's day and age, most of the time people are using some automated system and you know, press one for this and press the other. I'm like I don't want to press anything, I just want to speak to a human being.

Yeah, and preferably one that is that you can understand. I get that so often Give that automated system and then you can barely understand them and, because they're in this call center, overseas. Oh, yes, the noise and all so okay. Well, one of the questions we're asking all of our guests this season, or last season and this season, since we just started back in August last year what is a hobby or activity that you do to de-stress or relax from the daily grind or routines?

So I'm a little bit old school, so I love roller skating, like the old school boot skate with four wheels and the tube socks. That's me, so I love roller skating. Unfortunately, in the summertime it's just so hot here, but now that we're in cooler weather I'm like this is my time. But roller skating is my thing and I like nature trails too, so if I can go out, you know, to the nature trails, I like being outdoors, I'm an outdoorsy person so, and I live on the beach, so it's a five minutes swim. It's been a lot of time there as well.

That's good, yeah, where I'm at, I'm in the middle of about an hour from the beach. I live west of Brunswick and I'm about a hour, depending on where I go to the mountains. I could be anywhere from about an hour and a half to three hours from getting to a mountain area cabin or something and I love that because I love the solitude of the cabin and the mountains and everything.

It's so nice.

It is, but I also I like the beach. I'm not much anymore for getting out going swimming and stuff, but I just like going walking and sitting down on the beach listening to the waves crash on the shore.

So yeah, I like to go in the morning time and watch the sunrise. It's really pretty very relaxing. In the area where I'm at, they completely renovated the beach area. They got a brand new pair and a bunch of new stores and restaurants, so it's really relaxing so I love to go to it. Before, I would never go anywhere near that part of the beach. I would avoid it like the plague, but since they've renovated everything, it is beautiful. No, no roller skating there yet, because they don't really allow you to roller skate, so I still have to go to a different place. I usually go up to Boca. There's a really nice park that I go to. That's got a big lake and it's very relaxing, but it's south floor. There's a lot of people here. I do like to get away and go somewhere where there's nobody.

And the thing about Florida being in Florida anywhere, especially in the Panhandle or in the peninsula, is you've got the Atlantic side and the Gulf side and just about, if you really wanted to venture to experience both the sunrise and sunset, start on the east coast and then go over to the Gulf side to watch the sunset.

Yes, you're right about that. My son was stationed in Eglin Air Force Base. He just left. Now he's in Utah. Big difference, right, and I wanted to go. I did want to go up there, for that reason too. I'm like you know. You can catch the sunrise and the sunset all in Florida, you know, but never did get a chance to go. Now he's in Utah. I'm waiting for the snow to go away and get warmer before I take a visit.

Yeah, well, it was like when I was in the Army I was stationed out in Arizona, out to southeast or southeast Tucson at Fort LaChuca, and you know people think that oh, arizona, dry, summer, desert and stuff. But I remember many times having to work in a couple, not a couple inches, but a dusting of snow in the area and people you got snow in Arizona and southern Arizona, yeah, snow out there.

Oh yeah, yeah, my, my granddaughters. They live on the Navajo reservation and they're in New Mexico and they just faced time the other day and they had a lot of snow and I was like, wow, you know, it's like you think like of New Mexico. You're like it's got to be warm. No, it gets cold snow, you know. But it's a nice area though, it's a nice place to get away for sure. But I'll stay here in Florida though, I'll visit, but I come right back. I'm like, after a few days of the snow and the cold, I'm like I'm definitely a Florida girl. Yeah, A lot of people love. Florida for Georgia. My son, my oldest one he was in the Army and he was at Fort Gordon and Fort Stewart. So I've been to Georgia quite a bit when he was in the military, but I haven't been back since.

Yeah, okay, yeah, I still go to Florida periodically. My oldest daughter lives down in the Orlando area and I go down there visit her and my family, my maternal side of the family. They live up in West Georgia and I go up there periodically. And then I've got my step family that lives up in Ohio where my parents divorced. I went up there for a while. But yeah, I love Ohio but I don't like the cold. It's a different. Especially I've got frostbite once and I'm real sensitive to my hands being cold.

Yeah, I've never been frostbite, but I tell you why. I've got a lot of pain and aches. So whenever it's cold, it's like, oh, it's like how do people live in this weather? I mean, it's not friendly and not a good feeling when you have arthritis and everything else. So it's like, yeah, I don't think I, not even a leave, can help at that rate. Yeah. But yeah, once it gets warmer I'm definitely going to go visit my son, but too cold for me right now.

All right, well, that pretty much ends the questions that we have Anything else you want to recap or touch on that we didn't mention in the question and answer interview?

Well, I have a program for businesses. Anybody that wants to get involved is called the SAFE Partnership. It's on my website and it's a great program for businesses to be a part of. So we have there's four pillars to our program and that's workplace violence prevention, personal safety, community safety and then business networking and growth. Okay, so I have more information on my website on that. But, yeah, I relaunched it because when COVID hit, everything kind of went south and you know. But I relaunched it and I made it better. So now it's 2024. I'm like let's go ahead and kick it off and get as many partners as we can. All right, make a safer community for everyone.

Okay, I'll make sure to include that. I mentioned that in the show notes and I thank you for your time today, crystal and sorry for anybody that watches the video portion of this when it gets posted. We had a video glitch with Crystal, so that's why you'll see the camera with the red slash through it on the video screen.

But yeah, and I promise it wasn't because I'm tired. I haven't slept last night. I literally got zero sleep the last two days. So it wasn't because my eye bags, it just really wasn't technical problem.

But we hope to have you back and, for those that are listening, we are. Crystal will be assisting us a little bit on some interviews when she's able to, so we look forward to having her on and getting her view on some of our discussions that David and I have and then participating in interviews with people whenever she's not allowed to able to. But again, thank you, Crystal, for your time and and hope you stay safe down there in South Florida.

Absolutely, and you do the same, brian. Thank you.

Have a good day, thank you. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the host and the guest and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the podcast publisher. Its affiliates are any other entity. The information contained in this podcast is for entertainment purposes only and should not be construed as medical, legal or financial advice. The podcast publisher and its affiliates assume no responsibility for any liability, loss or damage caused by the use of information contained in this podcast. Listeners are advised to consult with a qualified professional before making any decisions based on the information contained in this podcast.