AG Moody Convenes Quarterly Meeting of Statewide Council on Human Trafficking

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Attorney General Ashley Moody today convened the quarterly meeting of the Statewide Council on Human Trafficking in West Palm Beach. The meeting, chaired by Attorney General Moody, involved state government officials, law enforcement leaders and other representatives from across Florida to discuss progress in the fight against human trafficking. The Council focused on the development of new human trafficking trainings for law enforcement officers as well as age-appropriate awareness material for schools.

Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “The scourge that is human trafficking will not be eliminated by everyone working alone. These Statewide Council meetings are extremely productive by bringing law enforcement, government, legislators and field experts involved in the fight against trafficking together so that we can implement a cohesive plan to combat this evil.”

Today’s meeting of the Council included updates from each of the Statewide Council on Human Trafficking’s committees, Criminal Justice, Services and Resources, and Legislative and Special Initiatives, as well as an update from the Direct Support Organization, End Human Trafficking, Inc.

Garrett Riggs, Training and Research Manager at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, briefed the council on a four-hour course training that was created for sworn law enforcement officers through FDLE on Human Trafficking as mandated by HB 851 last legislative session.

The Statewide Council on Human Trafficking is a 15-member council chaired by Attorney General Moody that builds on existing state and local partnerships to work on combating human trafficking. Members include law enforcement officers, prosecutors, legislators and experts from the fields of health, education and social services. For more information on the Council, click here.

Fighting human trafficking and rescuing survivors is a major focus of Attorney General Moody’s administration. In addition to serving as Chair on the Statewide Council on Human Trafficking, Attorney General Moody:

• Hosted the 2019 Human Trafficking Summit in Orlando and set an attendance record with more than 850 registered attendees;
• Joined Truckers Against Trafficking and Florida Trucking Association in hosting a half-day training course aimed at educating truckers on identifying human trafficking and how to report it;
• Partnered with Uber ahead of the 2020 Super Bowl in Miami to train drivers to spot and report human trafficking;
• Worked with local law enforcement agencies on multiple cases to rescue trafficking victims and arrest and prosecute human traffickers;
• Ordered a comprehensive review of all Florida policies and task forces related to human trafficking; and
• Assigned a Statewide Prosecutor to all local human trafficking task forces in each of Florida’s 20 judicial circuits.

Learn how to spot and report human trafficking by visiting YouCanStopHT.com.

Report suspected human trafficking by calling the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1(888) 373-7888.

Recently, Shared Hope International gave Florida a 94-A grade in the group’s Protected Innocence Challenge for the state’s human trafficking laws and resources for law enforcement officers. For more information, click here.