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).
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.
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)
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.
From Nov. 15, 2023, the day this year’s HTAI was announced, to the end of March, which was the month of Mexico’s HTAI, CVSA’s website saw 20,552 views on its Human Trafficking Prevention Program webpages.
CVSA’s Human Trafficking Prevention Program seeks to eliminate the crime of human trafficking through coordinated enforcement and investigations and educational awareness.
If you suspect someone is in a human trafficking situation or you are the victim of human trafficking:
To find out what your local jurisdiction is doing to increase human trafficking awareness and prevent human trafficking throughout the year, contact the agency/department responsible for overseeing commercial motor vehicle safety within your state, province or territory.