If you’ll be traveling throughout Minnesota this summer, there’s a good chance you’ll see at least one of the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s anti-human trafficking billboards.
The campaign, which urges people to ‘put the brakes on’ human trafficking, will be featured on 41 billboards at rest stops all throughout Minnesota. The message should reach plenty of individuals, as MNDoT says roughly 20 million travelers visit rest stops in Minnesota each year.
Clear Message
The goal of the campaign is two-fold. First, they hope to help people become aware of the signs of human trafficking. Posters placed at rest stops will include tips for recognizing the signs of trafficking. Secondly, they want people to reach out to local law enforcement if they suspect something. The posters will have the contact information for their local police department as well as the number to a toll-free trafficking hotline to report suspicious activity.
You may not be that familiar with human trafficking, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a problem in Minnesota. In fact, it’s a big problem in the Twin Cities.
“According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Twin Cities is one of the 13 U.S. cities with a particularly high rate of child prostitution, and Minnesota has the third highest number of human trafficking cases in the nation,” said MnDOT Commissioner Charlie Zelle. “MnDOT’s responsibility for maintaining the quality and safety of multiple modes of transportation, including highways, airports, rail lines, transit systems and commercial vehicles, provides unique opportunities to see, and stop, human trafficking activities.”
You Can Get Involved
At Appelman Law Firm, our goal is to provide whatever legal services we can to individuals who have been victimized by human trafficking. The state has actually taken some measurable steps in the last decade to ensure women and children sold into the trafficking trade do not end up facing criminal charges, but they still can face daunting challenges in the legal system or getting used to a normal life. We have connections with a number of different victim services providers in the industry that can help with this adjustment, so don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you or someone you know has been abused by traffickers.
You can also take the pledge to help stop human trafficking. You can click here to learn more about MNDoT’s human trafficking initiative, to request training or to download posters. And if you see something suspicious, you can reach out to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center at 1-888-3737-888, or you can submit a tip online at their website.
