CVSA Supports the Fight to End Human Trafficking

January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month in the United States. The law enforcement community and motor carrier industry membership of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) fully supports this important cause and is committed to bringing awareness to the crime of human trafficking and working together to prevent human trafficking throughout Canada, Mexico and the United States.

The United Nations (opens in a new tab) defines "trafficking in persons" or "human trafficking" as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons by force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, etc., to control a person for the purpose of exploitation, such as sexual exploitation or forced labor.

The International Labour Organization (opens in a new tab) estimates that forced labor and human trafficking is a $150 billion industry worldwide. In 2017, the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline (opens in a new tab) received reports of 8,524 suspected human trafficking cases. In Canada (opens in a new tab), there were 340 incidents of human trafficking in 2016, according to police-reported data.

"As members of law enforcement who inspect commercial motor vehicles, CVSA member jurisdictions throughout North America serve as the eyes and ears of our nation’s roadways," said CVSA President Lt. Scott Carnegie with the Mississippi Highway Patrol. "Inspectors serve in a hands-on capacity that grants them prime access and opportunity to potentially identify and recover individuals who are being trafficked using our roadways."

What We’re Doing

• Jan. 11 is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day and it's Wear Blue Day, part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Blue Campaign (opens in a new tab). Members of the Alliance will demonstrate solidarity with victims of human trafficking by wearing blue and contributing on social media using #WearBlueDay (opens in a new tab).
• On Jan. 15, CVSA Executive Director Collin Mooney will attend the Truckers Against Trafficking (opens in a new tab) (TAT) Everyday Heroes Truck Press Conference at 10 a.m. on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. TAT will debut its Everyday Heroes Truck and will offer tours of the Freedom Drivers Project (opens in a new tab), a full-scale tractor-trailer retrofitted into a mobile anti-trafficking educational museum.
• Jan. 15-18, commercial motor vehicle drivers who are inspected in participating jurisdictions may receive a wallet card and/or a window cling from inspectors, along with information on how drivers can identify and report human trafficking situations.

The 2018 Combating Human Trafficking in Commercial Vehicles Act (opens in a new tab) expanded the scope of activities under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s outreach and education program to include human trafficking prevention; established a human trafficking prevention coordinator position within the U.S. Department of Transportation; expanded the commercial driver's license financial assistance program to include recognition, prevention and reporting of human trafficking; and established the creation of an advisory committee on human trafficking.

In October 2018, CVSA Operation Safe Driver Program Chair Chief David Lorenzen, with the Iowa Department of Transportation, was appointed (opens in a new tab) to the U.S. Department of Transportation's Advisory Committee on Human Trafficking (ACHT). ACHT provides information, advice and recommendations to the U.S. DOT on matters related to human trafficking and develops recommended best practices for state and local transportation stakeholders in combating human trafficking. Chief Lorenzen represents the Alliance and the law enforcement perspective as an active member on the national advisory committee.

To find out what your local jurisdiction is doing to increase human trafficking awareness this month, contact the agency/department responsible for overseeing commercial motor vehicle safety within your state, province or territory.