The Florida Department of Transportation’s Statewide Transit Training and Technical Assistance (STTAT) Program in partnership with Truckers Against Trafficking supported the development of the human trafficking response procedure template to provide transit agency representatives a tool that can be adapted to and adopted at their agency to ensure front line employees, dispatch, and safety supervisors know the appropriate responses if they suspect a human trafficking situation. The development of the procedure template included input from Florida transit agency representatives to ensure the language was clear, concise, and similar to other procedures in their agency. The template is designed to easily incorporate the agency logo for ease of adoption. The use of this procedure template may potentially lead to many saved lives in our local communities.
Webinar
Title: Human Trafficking Awareness Training and Agency Implementation of the Response Procedure Template
Date and TIme: July 12, 2023 | 1:30 – 3:00 pm (ET)
Recording: https://youtu.be/J4Qwr5Aq8lQ
About this Webinar: As the front-line eyes on communities, transit operators have a unique opportunity to recognize suspicious situations and report those suspicions to the appropriate authorities that have an opportunity to intervene and react. Training is necessary to inform and empower transit agencies in the fight against human trafficking. Human trafficking is modern day slavery and is defined by the U.S. Department of Justice as a crime that involves the exploitation of a person for labor, services, or commercial sex. Human trafficking is a worldwide criminal industry that denies freedom from nearly 25 million people around the world, and the number of reported trafficking cases continues to rise each year. This presentation will review the current resources that are available for transit agencies to train their employees on the signs of human trafficking that they should be on the lookout for. The Truckers Against Trafficking Busing on the Lookout program has shared many success stories related to how transit employees were able to recognize situations and save human trafficking victims. There are additional resources available related to how to speak to a potential victim of human trafficking through the awareness training that is offered through the Truckers Against Trafficking Busing on the Lookout training. There is a national hotline that is available for anyone to call if they witness something that could potentially be signs of human trafficking 1-888-373-7888, which is included in many of the resources that are currently available. However, there is a recognized gap in the currently available resources, an agency policy accompanied by specific procedures. Many of the training materials available direct trainees to refer to their agency policy on how to report suspicious activity. However, many agencies throughout the state do not have a formalized policy or procedures in place to dictate how to report suspected human trafficking activity. This webinar will provide agencies with the valuable human trafficking awareness training resources and response procedure templates to leave attendees with considerations of ways they can improve the awareness and reporting procedures in their agency.
