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Truckers Against Trafficking Newsletter

Volume 5, Issue 7

July 2014

Notable Quotes

When asked why they are Truckers Against Trafficking, these drivers said:

"These kids/people need to know that someone cares about them. They are human, and not everyone is out to exploit them. All it takes is one act of kindness to change someone's world; now with TAT backing, we have a way to help instead of just wondering what to do." Brenda Louise Williams

"Trafficking is as bad as torture, causes lifetime damage and is one of the worst things that can be done. A person's life is a gift; we should have the choice to make it as happy as possible, especially for children."

William Render

"Because this is NOT God's plan for these young women. This is extremely important to me, because it is extremely important to God. Five years ago (been that long already) I used to think, not my problem. God got my attention through a sequence of events. In a nutshell, He told me, 'This is your problem.' If God uses me to help one girl, that would make it all worth it; this is God's calling on my life."

Rick Youngquist

A reminder: With summer and warmer weather here, human trafficking activity will likely increase. Stay vigilant and make those calls to save lives --1-888-3737-888.

Human trafficking in the news

Nationwide operation targeting commercial child sex trafficking recovers 168 juveniles

Over the period of one week at the end of June, the FBI, its local, state, and federal law enforcement partners, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) conducted Operation Cross Country VIII, a week-long enforcement action to address commercial child sex trafficking throughout the United States.

This operation included enforcement actions in 106 cities across 54 FBI field divisions nationwide and resulted in 168 recoveries of children who were being victimized through prostitution. Additionally, 281 pimps were arrested on state and federal charges. Click here to read more.

Truck drivers take to the road to end human trafficking

"The truckers and motor carriers of Montana have partnered with us to put these human trafficking awareness posters on their trucks," said Montana Attorney General Tim Fox. "The truckers move all across the country; they're in the truck stops, the rest stops and the highways. They're in a lot of places that human trafficking might take place." Click here to read more.

National Minority Trucking Association to host nationwide seminar series for minority trucking members

The National Minority Trucking Association (NMTA) and Truckers Against Trafficking partner to educate truckers, owners/operators and carriers on how to start their own trucking business and how to help stop trafficking. Together they are making a difference! Click here to read more.

Calls from trucking industry concerning human trafficking continue to climb

The National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) has just released call numbers through May 31, 2014. Since the NHTRC began on Dec. 7, 2007, truckers have made a total of 895 calls, with 63 calls being made in the past two months, between April 1-May 31, 2014.

As of May 31, 2014, the total number of reported cases of potential trafficking occurring at truck stops rose by 20, from a total of 412 between Dec. 7, 2007-March 31, 2014 to a total of 432. Ten of those 20 cases were reported by truckers, and the other 10 were reported by community members and other populations. In total, truckers have reported 285 cases of potential trafficking, with 251 of those occurring at truck stops.

Truckers now rank twelfth in terms of reporting potential trafficking tips and eighth in terms of reporting potential sex trafficking tips. They rank seventeenth overall in calls made to the NHTRC.

Note: A case refers to a specific report or request submitted to the NHTRC hotline via phone call, SMS text message, email, or online tip report. Each case may have multiple signals and/or multiple people associated with it.

More state trucking associations

join Truckers Against Trafficking

Half of the nation's state trucking associations have now partnered with TAT to fight human trafficking. To come on-board with TAT, we ask a state trucking association to do the following:

Send out TAT materials to all of your member companies, along with a letter urging them to incorporate TAT training (DVD and wallet card)
Invite TAT to speak, or make a TAT presentation at your annual conference
Send out a press release and/or hold press conference announcing our partnership, and be the "go to" when media wants to write a story about a company involved in this program from your area
Continually work with member companies to keep this issue on their radar screen (link to us on your website, survey your members to see who is adopting TAT training, distribute our newsletter with relevant, up-to-date information happening on human trafficking, etc.)
Work with us to assist law enforcement in their investigations and our coalition builds
Pass along our Iowa DOT model to your state police

TAT to hold two coalition builds in July

TAT will be working with state law enforcement and trucking/travel plaza leaders on two coalition builds in July. On July 9, we'll be in Menomonee Falls, WI and on July 29, in Des Moines, IA.

The objective of coalition builds is to gather the law enforcement agencies (state, federal and local offices, including local police departments, FBI, DHS and the AG's office), and local anti-trafficking resources (task forces and local NGOs), in the same room with the general managers of truck stops. Recently, TAT began including leadership from major trucking companies in the area, as they and their drivers have a critical part to play and need to be brought into the loop with these resources and law enforcement as well.

To read more about these upcoming TAT coalition builds and the objectives, click here.

What is TAT?

Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT) is a non-profit organization that exists to educate, equip, empower and mobilize the trucking industry to combat human trafficking as part of their regular jobs. Domestic sex trafficking occurs along our nation's highways and at its truck stops, where traffickers can sell their victims to a transient population they believe are less likely to attempt rescue. In response, TAT is asking the 3 million domestic truckers, as well as other members of the trucking industry, to become aware of this issue, and, when they suspect a human trafficking case, to call the national hotline and report it. Visit our website at www.truckersagainsttrafficking.org to learn more.