The Leon County Sheriff’s Office has been tapped as one of six law enforcement agencies in the country to help research and combat human trafficking. The agency will be working to develop a toolkit to identify and assist victims and to conduct investigations.
The LCSO was asked to participate by the International Association of Chiefs of Police. The six demonstration sites will be testing and providing feedback to the Association throughout the next year. Leon’s is the only law enforcement agency in Florida that’s participating.
Sheriff Walt McNeil says Tallahassee has dynamics that offer valuable information for research.
“We’re a college town, for one,” he said. “We have the corridor of I-10 running through our community. And we have a hotel industry that’s pretty vibrant. And while it’s not as big as some of the major cities are, the things we will learn here will be transferable to other states and other cities across our country.”
The effort is supported by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Robin Hassler Thompson is part of LCSO’s local team. She’s the executive director of Tallahassee’s Survive and Thrive Advocacy Center, which works with survivors and trains businesses in how to spot and prevent human trafficking.
“One of the biggest pieces of both sex and labor trafficking is that the people who are victimized are being controlled in their every thought, every move, on the job, if they’re being sex trafficked as they move in the community, by somebody else,” said Hassler Thompson. “So that power and control issue is the number-one thing to look at.”
Experts like Hassler Thompson say the crime of human trafficking can go on unseen. Part of the toolkit project will be teaching people how to spot the signs.
