Category: Alabama

In order to be designated as such a zone, there are three steps the city must take: passing a proclamation declaring the city to be a Human TraffickingFree Zone, undergoing training for city personnel, in particular first responders, as well as businesses in the city, and lastly, a zero tolerance policy for city employees caught purchasing sex at work. The program is managed at the local level by the project, but is an initiative of the U.S. Institute Against Human Trafficking.

Alabaster, AL. Mayor Marty Handlon declared January 2020 as Human Trafficking Awareness Month in the city of Alabaster during a City Council meeting on Monday, Dec. 16.

According to the U.S Institute Against Human Trafficking, “The (TFZ) Trafficking Free Zone program is a community-based initiative to reduce the number of buyers, whose continuous financial investments create an illicit market for traffickers to exploit young victims in Alabama.

The Trafficking Free Zone is a nation-wide program of the U.S. Institute Against Human Trafficking and local anti-trafficking coalition, the Child Trafficking Solutions Project, an initiative of Alabama’s Children’s Policy Council and the Jefferson Family Court.

Alabama recently received an A on its “report card” from Shared Hope International (SHI) for the state’s positive response to the issue of human sex trafficking. Its overall score landed Alabama at the sixth position in the country; neighboring Tennessee took the top spot.

At Monday night’s council meeting in Vestavia Hills, AL, Mayor Ashley Curry signed a proclamation – an initiative of U.S. Institute Against Human Trafficking that will require all city staff to be trained on how to spot sex trafficking.

“Most of our kids identify as bisexual. And, that’s because they’ve been sold to this person or that person, males and females. So, they don’t know what their gender is,” said Lynn Caffery, Executive Director of the shelter Safe Harbor Youth in Huntsville.

This law will require any new CDL applicant to undergo industry-specific training to spot human trafficking. The group Truckers Against Trafficking will work with truck driver training schools and trade colleges to facilitate the training.

The NCOSE is the leading organization exposing the links between all forms of sexual exploitation such as child sexual abuse, prostitution, sex trafficking and the public health crisis of pornography. The mission includes any actual or attempted abuse of a position of vulnerability, differential power or trust, for sexual purposes.

The job of identifying victims often falls on hospital workers and police officers. All patrol officers in the Birmingham, Alabama Police Department underwent training in January to learn how to recognize victims who often are taught to avoid being noticed.

“We need to address the issues of childhood sexual abuse that causes a victim to become vulnerable to trafficking, and we need to address the issue of demand,” Carolyn Potter said. “Make it really hard on the people who think it is OK to buy another human being, and that needs to be taken care of in our state.”

She revealed that Alabama continues to crack down on illicit massage parlors across the state. A number of them are under investigation for human trafficking, according to McCay. In many cases, she says workers have been found living at the business.