Truckers Against Trafficking underscored the critical role that truckstops and travel centers play in the fight against human trafficking in a recent Letter to the Editor published in the New York Times.
In a letter published April 14, TAT Executive Director Kendis Paris wrote that wherever traffickers sell victims, they exploit local businesses for their personal gain. “This is as true for truck stops as it is for a variety of other legitimate businesses,” Paris wrote.
Paris said that truckstop operators have “responsibly partnered” with TAT to fight trafficking using a variety of tactics, including training their employees with our videos and wallet cards, enhanced security, fencing and lighting on their properties, and alerting law enforcement of suspicious activity.
The letter also called attention to the NATSO Foundation’s free, online training course, “The Role of Truckstops in Combating Human Trafficking,” which teaches truckstop owners, operators and their employees how to identify and report suspected incidents of human trafficking.
Paris submitted the letter to the New York Times after a recent opinion column about the trucking industry’s efforts to fight human trafficking neglected to include information about TAT’s many key partnerships within the truckstop community.
The NATSO Foundation works with TAT to bring members of the truckstop and travel plaza industry to state coalition meetings that educate members of the business community, transportation and law enforcement about human trafficking as well as serve as an open forum to discuss human trafficking trends in regional areas and to explore collective ways to combat this crime.
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