In less-populated states, like Montana, it sometimes takes a while for human trafficking to be discovered as an ongoing problem. But no longer. Awareness and education are underway in the state, and TAT is playing a role.

In June, the Montana Trucking Association (MTA) invited TAT’s Freedom Drivers Project to its Expo and Truck Driving Championship events. Both were held in Helena, June 10-11. During the two days, 121 toured the FDP at the Lewis and Clark Fairgrounds, including two groups of DMV student drivers and their instructors. Of those students, only six of them had heard of human trafficking.

Duane Williams, MTA CEO, commented, “Thanks to Truckers Against Trafficking for realizing that this timely, important message is needed even in low-population states like Montana. Thanks for taking the time and effort to have a presence at our expo. Even if just one individual was helped, it is worth it.”

Montana is considered one of the states in the nation with the highest number of truck stop casinos, so the TAT Coalition Build (CB) team will be holding a CB Aug. 23 in Helena and a second one Oct. 19 in Billings, both focusing on creating partnerships between law enforcement, trucking, truck stops, buses and casinos to close loopholes to traffickers and train people on how to spot trafficking and how to use a victim-centered approach with human trafficking survivors.

Designed with ELDs in mind, eTAT is a new app to help drivers identify and report labor and sex trafficking in their everyday work. Drivers can view human trafficking red flags and examples, as well as scan QR codes with their personal mobile devices to access training videos, podcast episodes and more. Additional benefits include:

"If you decide to install eTAT for your fleet on their company devices, please let TAT know, so we can better track our reach,” explained Laura Cyrus, senior director of Industry Training and Outreach. “While we get some minor analytics on the total number of downloads from each app store, we would love to know which fleets have added eTAT. Please let us know. Also, if there are any ELD providers out there who would like to discuss having eTAT come standard on your devices, we would love to speak with you about that opportunity."

Click here for more information on the app or search for the eTAT app at the Google Play store.

Seeing the need for strategic distribution points for its materials and message to reach more members of the transportation industry, Truckers Against Trafficking created the TAT Dealership Partner program (TDP) to engage those business dealerships resourcing drivers.

Pomp’s Tire Service Inc. became a TDP in 2017. Over the years, Pomp’s has continued to increase its level of engagement in that program, displaying its commitment to combat human trafficking. Pomp’s has not only trained their employees with TAT materials, displayed TAT materials and hung TAT posters at their brick and mortar locations and become a TAT sponsor, but they’ve introduced TAT to other industry organizations, highlighted TAT on their website, and now have created and are employing several co-branded wrapped trailers to raise awareness of TAT and the fight against human trafficking wherever their trucks travel.

To launch their new trailers, Pomp’s is hosting a series of training and launch events as the trailers move out to various Pomp’s locations across the country. The first two of these events were held in Kansas City and Dupo, Illinois.

T.J. Trum, general counsel/team leader for Risk Management and Safety, Pomp’s Tire, stated, “The mission and values of Truckers Against Trafficking directly align with our core values. Our expanding relationship with TAT in this first trailer wrap will further amplify their important message. By training our teammates, publicly demonstrating our firm support for anti-trafficking efforts and generating conversations with our customers and the general public, we believe that we will be the difference in helping a victim of human trafficking.”