At what Virginia DMV Commissioner Gerald Lackey called "one our busiest weigh stations" due southwest of Stephens City on I-81, various representatives of law enforcement and trucking communities gathered Tuesday on what was the United Nations' World Day Against Trafficking in Persons.
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Chief Counsel Melody Drummond Hansen spelled out the reason for being there. The agency sees "helping to combat human trafficking as part of our overall mission to increase roadway safety," and "we want to remind everyone about the actions we can all take" in that effort.
Increasingly, noted state enforcement reps, truckers are the front-line eyes and ears sharing information leading to big busts, breaking up rings of traffickers coercing individuals into sex work and worse.
Virginia State Police Captain Michael Jenkins, part of the special investigations unit, detailed dozens of reports from I-81 road users related to human trafficking, seven investigative efforts resulting in the Richmond area alone last month. "These statistics validate the state police commitments to disrupt the human trafficking networks," quite organized in many cases, Jenkins said.
Sean Stewart, safety division commander, described educational efforts with all inspection staff that then extend to routine interactions at scales like those at Stephens City. Inspectors "use that as an opportunity … to engage our drivers, who we consider to be our partners, with respect to human trafficking." Most take the effort to fight the crime "very personally," he said. "These highways and roadways are their domain, and they're eager to help."
Commander Stewart noted visor cards like this one have been distributed to untold numbers of haulers rolling through weigh station and roadside inspections in the state. This card, part of FMCSA's "Your roads, their freedom" anti-trafficking outreach and educational effort, following on long work of the Truckers Against Trafficking nonprofit, is available in pdf and image form at this link.
Outreach efforts are bearing fruit, said Virginia Trucking Association President & CEO Dale Bennett. He told the story of a ring broken up in the state after investigation spurred on by one trucker's report to law enforcement via the national hotline. Often enough, traffickers "target our industry, forcing victims to work at truck stops, rest areas and other locations, but the industry is fighting back," he said.
Bennett wanted everyone around trucking to send a "clear message that we can no longer stand by to allow this activity to take place on our watch."
Professional truckers are the tip of the spear in that regard.
[Related: Texas fleet owners human trafficking truck drivers, editing logs: Police]
As referenced above, "one truck driver called about a girl he noticed," said Bennett. The result: "30 human traffickers were arrested," several minors were rescued, and police "busted up a ring operating in the state."
As was emphasized also by former FBI counterintelligence Director Frank Figliuzzi in Matt Cole's podcast talk with him recently (embedded below if you missed it), stay involved in anti-trafficking efforts, drivers. As Bennett put it, "recognize the signs" of it, some of those signs detailed on the backside of the visor card shown above.
As is the mantra in enforcement/public safety communities, too: See something? Say something: Put 888-3737-888 or (for text) 233733 in your phone for the national trafficking hotline for reporting.
Clearly, on some levels, it's working.
[Related: New book examines FBI's 'Highway Serial Killings' initiative]
