Kansas law enforcement officials have partnered with the trucking industry to better train truck drivers to identify and report suspected human trafficking.
Truckers can now call a national hotline to report evidence of human trafficking. That information will then be relayed to local authorities.
“We’re making the reporting more timely, hopefully, so drivers as they’re seeing crimes happening can report it, giving law enforcement a better response time,” says Esther Goetsch of the group Truckers Against Trafficking.
Under the arrangement, truck drivers will undergo additional training. The idea behind the partnership is that truckers are in a good position to identify human traffickers and their victims, who are often transported along the nation’s highways.