By Neil Abt, Managing Editor
LAS VEGAS — American Trucking Associations announced it has joined with Truckers Against Trafficking to raise awareness about human trafficking.
“Human trafficking is a serious problem, not only in the U.S., but the world,” ATA Chairman Dan England said at an Oct. 7 press conference here at the start of the federation’s Management Conference & Exhibition.
England, who is chairman of refrigerated carrier C.R. England Inc., said human trafficking is a $32 billion global underground industry. However, he said the nation’s 3.1 million truckers offer a “great opportunity” to help fight trafficking by “recognizing when something terrible is going on” and reporting it to the police.
England was joined at the press conference by officials including Kendis Paris, national director of Truckers Against Trafficking; Nevada state Assemblyman John Hambrick; America’s Road Team Captain Dion Saiz; and Paul Enos, CEO of the Nevada Trucking Association.
England said the timing of the announcement was particularly significant, with the approaching 10th anniversary of a truck driver helping to catch the snipers that terrorized the Washington, D.C. area.
England said he includes Truckers Against Trafficking information as part of his company’s training documents, and urged all fleets to do the same. In addition, he encouraged them to work with their customers and local communities.
Paris said the trucking industry’s response was “absolutely amazing,” and that lives already had been saved by their efforts.
“Truckers are making it that much harder for traffickers to make a profit,” she said.
Paris’ association provides resources including a wallet card with guidelines, a telephone number, a training DVD, and other materials. She said traffickers often “sell” victims at truck stops, travel plazas and rest stops because they’re convenient locations with transient populations.
Hambrick, who has sponsored bills in the Nevada legislature to raise awareness of human trafficking, said he was grateful to the truckers for helping “to save the most vulnerable.”
The Department of Justice estimates between 100,000 and 300,000 children are at risk every year to traffickers in the United States and that many children, teens and young women are sold into the sex trade.
A number of ATA affiliates already are working with TAT, including state trucking associations in California, Colorado, Idaho, Minnesota, Nevada and Wisconsin.
Saiz, a second-generation trucker with ABF Freight System, said Truckers Against Trafficking provides all of his fellow drivers the resources to make a difference simply by knowing what to do if they see something suspicious.
