Archive for June, 2011

Sex trafficking occurs at truck stops in the United States often in two forms, through pimp controlled prostitution and through massage parlors. Pimps frequently move their victims from city to city, forcing victims to engage in commercial sex at truck stops along the way. Brothels disguised as massage parlors are also sometimes present at or near truck stops. These networks control women through confinement and complicated debt bondage schemes.

For the rest of this story, please follow this LINK to Polaris Project’s webpage.

Polaris Project has been awarded the highest rating of 4 stars by Charity Navigator for 3 consecutive years for being fiscally responsible and financially healthy.

If you are a victim of human trafficking and need immediate help or if you suspect a potential trafficking situation, call the hotline at 1-888-3737-888 now.

The National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) works to improve the national response to protect victims of human trafficking in the United States. The NHTRC runs a national, toll-free hotline available to answer calls from anywhere in the country, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year. Contact the NHTRC to report a tip; to connect with anti-trafficking resources in your area; or to request training and technical assistance, general information or specific anti-trafficking resources. The NHTRC is operated by Polaris Project and funded by the Department of Health and Human Services and other supporters.
Sex Trafficking at Truck Stops

NHTRC Truckers Against Trafficking Report:
December 7th, 2007 – May 31st, 2011

• Take away: Truckers Against Trafficking is successfully reaching a population that provides valuable intelligence about sex trafficking, frequently of minors. Their work is generating frequent hotline calls about a network that would go unreported without trucker engagement. The National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) has received over 125 calls from Truck Drivers. Of these, more than 60% resulted from awareness and outreach efforts conducted by Truckers Against Trafficking.
• Truckers Against Trafficking has conducted targeted awareness efforts about human trafficking and the NHTRC hotline through radio programs and ads, newsletters and articles, their website, and other mediums.
• Approximately 42% of hotline calls from truckers are tips about potential human trafficking; in comparison, 15% of all hotline calls are classified as tips. In another 33% of calls, truckers called requested general information about human trafficking; many of these truckers later call to report trafficking.
• Of the cases reported by truckers referencing trafficking, approximately 62% involved potential minors in sex trafficking situations. Pimp control sex trafficking was the most common type of trafficking reported by truckers, and was reported in 58% of the calls referencing trafficking.
• Take away: Truckers Against Trafficking is successfully reaching a population that provides valuable intelligence about sex trafficking, frequently of minors. Their work is generating frequent hotline calls about a network that would go unreported without trucker engagement.
Vignette: While driving through Flagstaff, Arizona late at night, a trucker pulled over at a truck stop near the highway. The driver observed a man who appeared to be in his late thirties with a young girl who appeared to be around 13 years old. At first the driver didn’t think anything was wrong, but after observing the man and the young girl approach several other truckers, the driver became increasingly suspicious. The driver spoke with one of the other truckers, who told him that the man with the young girl was offering to sell her for commercial sex to the various truckers they had approached. The driver decided to contact the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC), since he had heard about the human trafficking hotline on a radio spot by Truckers Against Trafficking. After receiving the driver’s report, the NHTRC reported the information to a federal law enforcement taskforce that works specifically on cases of commercial sexual exploitation of children.

For every new fan to Lone Mountain Truck Leasing’s Facebook page, they will donate $1 to Truckers Against Trafficking up to $3000. This fundraiser runs from June 10-20. So just click on the following link and “like” the page. It has never been easier to help fight human trafficking! Thanks Lone Mountain Truck Leasing! http://alturl.com/x8cjj

Check out the excellent article in Pilot’s Challenge magazine about Truckers Against Trafficking — http://ptcchallenge.com/2011/06/truckers-against-trafficking/.