The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance has been working with its law enforcement and industry/association members on an international human trafficking awareness and outreach campaign.
Once again this year, CVSA worked with TAT (formerly known as Truckers Against Trafficking) to offer human trafficking identification and prevention training.
Photo: Neo Siam
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Earlier this year, commercial motor vehicle law enforcement personnel and industry and association professionals from Canada, Mexico and the U.S. participated in this year’s Human Trafficking Awareness Initiative (HTAI).
A Hotline for Help
If you see something suspicious on the highway, it's better to be safe than sorry.
Truckers have played in integral role in recusing human trafficking victimes by reporting possible cases in real time.
Knowing what signs to look for is critical for distrupting human trafficking. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's What is Human Trafficking? page provides detailed information on clues and warning signs that someone is the victim of human trafficking.
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) invited its law enforcement and industry/association members to participate in an annual five-day human trafficking awareness and outreach campaign. Participating enforcement and industry members took that opportunity to raise awareness and train individuals on the crime of human trafficking, indicators to look for and what to do when a victim of human trafficking has been identified.
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An All-Encompassing Approach
Participating members submitted reports to CVSA about their activities leading up to and during the initiative. Fifty-one jurisdictions took part in this year’s HTAI.
Examples of law enforcement’s activities include:
Handed out human trafficking information to drivers to review during the portion of an inspection when the driver is waiting
Observed and spoke with passengers in trucks to monitor for signs of human trafficking
Distributed flyers and wallet cards and talked to the public at truck stops, city halls, train and bus stations, ports of entry, department of motor vehicle offices, weigh/inspection stations, etc.
Displayed the human trafficking hotline on digital roadway billboards
Posted messages, videos, infographics, etc., to social media
Included brief information about human trafficking and a hyperlink to more information in new entrant and compliance review emails
Delivered human trafficking awareness and prevention training to motor carriers
Issued news releases, held news conferences, and spoke with reporters for print and television news segments
Completed the human trafficking online learning modules
In the U.S., participated in Wear Blue Day on Jan. 11 (#WearBlueDay)
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Truckers Against Trafficking Collaboration
For HTAI, CVSA collaborated with TAT (formerly known as Truckers Against Trafficking) to offer human trafficking identification and prevention training and reference materials to the motor carrier industry and law enforcement.
This year, 38,158 wallet cards, 13,510 window decals and 1,603 posters were distributed. There were 334 human trafficking outreach events, and 204 presentations were delivered. In addition, 692 media contacts were made and there were 107 reported social media posts.
In addition, CVSA worked with the Paramount/CBS network to create public service announcement (PSA) videos, which feature a human trafficking survivor, truck driver and commercial vehicle enforcement officer. The PSAs are available for public use and distribution as a 30-second video and an extended five-minute video. The PSAs aired during commercial breaks of streaming television shows and movies on Pluto TV, Paramount+ and local streaming service EYEQ Local. Combined, those PSAs yielded 15,652,611 impressions.
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