ROADMap
TRUCKERS AGAINST TRAFFICKING Kicking off in eight Texas cities
BY STEVE BRAWNER Contributing Writer
On Jan. 6, 2015, Con-way Truckload
driver Kevin Kimmel saw a young girl’s face appear in an RV’s window at a Virginia truck stop and then disappear as if it were yanked away. Concerned, he called the police, and when they responded, they found an Iowa couple and a 20-year-old woman who had been kidnapped, physical- ly and sexually abused, and forced into prostitution. Because of that phone call, the victim
is at home, the sex traffickers are in prison, and Kimmel is the winner of the 2015 Harriet Tubman Award, given by Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT) in honor of the famed anti-slavery organizer of the Underground Railroad. It’s a great story, and it’s not the only
one. According to Kendra Paris, TAT exec- utive director, truckers have made close to 1,400 such calls involving 425 likely human trafficking cases involving 744 victims, 249 of them minors. TXTA is kicking off pro- grams in eight cities across the state. “At any given time there are more
truck drivers out on the road than law enforcement, and when you think about the reality that truck drivers are trained to be vigilant as part of their everyday jobs, and then add that they are often in places that pimps will bring their victims into to be sold, well, who better than (drivers) to educate and equip about this reality, and then empower to do something about it?” she recently told the Arkansas Trucking Association.
50 Summer 2016
TAT TRAINS DRIVERS, TRUCK STOP EMPLOYEES AND OTHERS TO SPOT THE SIGNS THAT A PERSON IS A POTENTIAL VICTIM, SUCH NOT BEING ALLOWED TO SPEAK FOR HERSELF, AND PROVIDES QUESTIONS TO ASK, SUCH AS, “WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU SAW YOUR FAMILY?”
Paris said there are 21 million victims
of human trafficking globally, meaning there are more slaves worldwide today than at any previous time in world history. Human trafficking is a $150 billion a year industry that occurs in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. The victims include children and adults, many of whom were forced into slavery as children. They often come from difficult home situations, or
they are lured into slavery through social media. Once ensnared, they’re forced into prostitution through force, fraud and coercion. Truckers Against Trafficking, http://
www.truckersagainsttrafficking.org, is designed to combat human trafficking by unleashing the power of the trucking industry. Paris said drivers are in the places where trafficking often occurs – truck
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