Truckers Against Trafficking: Putting training into action
Meet one of our new partners, Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT). TAT exists to educate, equip, empower and mobilize members of the trucking, bus and energy industries to combat human trafficking. Your donations and advocacy this Dressember help to bring law enforcement together with leadership from casinos and bus companies to train employees on how to spot human trafficking through their “Busing on the Lookout” program.
Since 2009, when TAT began working with the trucking industry, truckers have made 2,256 calls into the National Human Trafficking Hotline leading to 635 likely cases of human trafficking involving over 1,186 victims. And this is just one slice of the data pie…it doesn’t include calls to 911, dispatch or the local sheriff’s office. It also doesn’t include calls from bus industry professionals that have been recently begun training.
Photo: Bus & truck drivers being recognized for their actions to recover individuals, improve the lives of victims or prevent human trafficking from taking place.
The story of Keith: A trucker on the lookout
Keith* contacted the National Human Trafficking Hotline after being parked at a truck stop and being solicited for commercial sex by four separate women over the course of several hours. Keith was concerned because two of the individuals who knocked on his cab door were underage, an indicator he recognized as a result of the training he received from Truckers Against Trafficking.
Additionally, he observed the two adult women and two underage girls getting out of the same vehicle before splitting up and knocking on different truck doors. Although Keith could not see who was driving the vehicle, he noticed that, several times an hour, the vehicle would leave the lot, circle around the gas station, and return to park in the lot again to continue observing the women and girls.
Keith was able to provide the National Human Trafficking Hotline with descriptions of the potential victims and the vehicle that dropped them off. At the Hotline Advocate’s encouragement, Keith contacted 911 for an immediate response and the Hotline also reported the situation to trusted law enforcement contacts so they could connect with the local police involved in the investigation.
“I will find a way to get you home.” A truck driver springs into action
Professional driver Arian Taylor pulled into a California truck stop at 3:30 a.m. to make a delivery. Shortly thereafter, he received a knock on his cab door, only to find a 19-year-old young woman standing outside his truck.
As he spoke with her, he learned that her friend’s older boyfriend was trying to force her into prostitution. After she had refused and argued with him, he dumped her in the parking lot and sped off. She was cold, exhausted, had no money, no identification, was carrying everything she owned in her arms and was desperate to get home.
At that point, Arian told her, “I will find a way to get you home.” After getting her warm and giving her water to drink, Arian looked at one of the two TAT stickers prominently displayed on his windows (which the victim had been eye-level with when she knocked on his door) and called the National Human Trafficking Hotline.
They worked with him to secure the woman shelter for the night, a pre-paid cab ride to get her to that shelter and a chaperoned train ride home. Arian took care of the young woman until she was placed in the cab, and even gave her his personal cell phone number in case she needed anything else. '
Bus drivers put their training into action
When the Lakefront Lines Bus Team in Ohio, who had recently completed TAT’s bus industry training (Busing on the Lookout), was notified that a female passenger on one of their buses was allegedly being held against her will and forced into prostitution by a male passenger on the same bus, they immediately sprang into action.
As the driver calmly stopped the bus, he reassured the other passengers while being as inconspicuous as possible about the reasons for the delay.
He notified dispatch and triggered an internal response system within the Lakefront Lines Safety Team that swiftly communicated with law enforcement and ensured that police were on the scene as quickly as possible.
Before the bus got back on the road—and safely got the other passengers to their destination—the suspect was arrested, the alleged victim was recovered, and the case was referred for further investigation.
*Names, locations, and other identifying information has been changed and/or omitted to preserve confidentiality.