NATSO Vice President of Public Affairs Tiffany Wlazlowski Neuman delivered the following remarks Sept. 1 at a press conference hosted by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to announce a meeting between members of the business community and law enforcement to discuss a coordinated effort to combat human trafficking in Texas.
"As an industry that caters to millions of travelers every year, truckstops and their employees are in a key position to help identify and stop human trafficking along our nation’s highway system.
It is a tragic reality that human trafficking has been reported across all modes of transportation in the United States.
Together, we are forming the equivalent of a neighborhood watch program that is highly focused on crime prevention.
The truckstop industry takes seriously the fight against human trafficking. The NATSO Foundation’s goal is to provide our members with the tools they need to train their staff so that those individuals are equipped to identify and provide meaningful assistance if they encounter instances of this horrible crime.
To that end, the NATSO Foundation earlier this year launched its first ever online training course titled The Role of Truckstops in Combating Human Trafficking.
With the help of this education tool, our industry is training employees at every level – from CEOs, owners, operators, managers -- even our part-time and summer employees -- to identify and respond to suspected incidents of human trafficking.
In the few short months since its launch, the industry has pledged to train more than 30,000 employees. That number continues to grow each week.
In short, we’re increasing public awareness, and our industry is taking meaningful action to ensure that the truckstop industry is prepared to respond.
America’s truckstops and travel plazas are determined to take a united stand along with other transportation providers to stop the flow of human trafficking using America’s transportation system.”
Media Contact:
Tiffany Wlazlowski Neuman
Vice President, Public Affairs
Phone: (703) 739-8578
Email: twlazlowski@natso.com
Subscribe to Updates
NATSO provides a breadth of information created to strengthen travel plazas’ ability to meet the needs of the travelling public in an age of disruption. This includes knowledge filled blog posts, articles and publications. If you would like to receive a digest of blog post and articles directly in your inbox, please provide your name, email and the frequency of the updates you want to receive the email digest.