Legislation increases awareness of human trafficking indicators and prevents cases from being overlooked by law enforcement and the public.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last week, President Biden signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2022. The bill included U.S. Representative Peter Meijer’s (R-MI) legislation, H.R. 2795, the DHS Blue Campaign Enhancement Act, which increases awareness of human trafficking indicators and prevents cases from being overlooked by law enforcement and the public. It is cosponsored by Representative Lou Correa (D-CA), and the bill was introduced in the Senate by Senators Gary Peters (D-MI) and Rob Portman (R-OH), who serve as the Chairman and Ranking Member, respectively, of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. When President Biden signed the NDAA, Rep. Meijer’s first bill became law.
Rep. Meijer released the following statement:
“The DHS Blue Campaign Enhancement Act will strengthen law enforcement and the public’s ability to recognize and respond to signs of human trafficking. These heinous crimes are vastly underreported and improving our ability to spot the signs will save lives. We must utilize every tool available to put an end to human trafficking. This legislation is a critical step towards that goal, and I am proud that it is now the law of the land.”
The DHS Blue Campaign Enhancement Act will:
- Require the Director of the Blue Campaign to develop web-based interactive training videos and provide online training opportunities for federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement officers.
- Establish a Blue Campaign Advisory Board within DHS to consult regularly with the Director on the development of effective awareness tools for distribution to industry partners that will help them identify and prevent instances of human trafficking.
- The advisory board will include representatives from at least four separate DHS components and offices, as well as the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and the Privacy Office of the Department.
“Human trafficking is a serious global problem that hurts people and impedes economic growth. While employers do not have direct control over others in their supply chain, through collaborations like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Task Force to Eradicate Human Trafficking, employers are able to be part of the solution by working with others like the DHS Blue Campaign to educate employees, customers, and communities on how to recognize and report human trafficking. This legislation would provide critical additional resources to the DHS Blue Campaign for web-based training of law enforcement and correction personnel, as well as establish an Advisory Board focused on the importance of public-private partnerships in combating this heinous criminal activity." – Glenn Spencer, Senior Vice President of the Employment Policy Division, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
“I applaud Congressman Meijer for introducing this important piece of legislation at a time when funding for critical training to recognize and combat human trafficking continues to decline. Improving access to online resources for local law enforcement is crucial to expanding our efforts to protect vulnerable individuals and prevent these terrible crimes.” – Chief Robert Stevenson (Ret.), Executive Director, Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police
“Human trafficking is a critical issue across the United States and locally in Kent County, Michigan. We support the DHS Blue Campaign Enhancement Act as an important opportunity to strengthen trauma informed and culturally and linguistically appropriate training within the criminal justice system. The last year of economic upheaval creates conditions for trafficking to increase and the Enhancement Act renews our collective commitment to both prevent and identify human trafficking in our community. Human trafficking is a complex problem including forced or bonded labor, debt bondage, involuntary domestic servitude, and commercial sexual exploitation of children. We are hopeful the Enhancement Act is a step toward needed resources and reforms to increase the cross-sector insight and collaboration that is necessary to equip divisions of the criminal justice system to protect our neighbors with vulnerabilities and to prevent human trafficking.” - Rachel VerWys, Executive Director, SEE, and Co-Chair, Kent County Area Human Trafficking Coalition
“By expanding training opportunities to include an online component, will ensure that local officials are able to identify and combat human trafficking. As a survivor and Social Worker providing services to victims of human trafficking, increasing law enforcement’s awareness on human trafficking is essential. Partnerships between the community and law enforcement is the only way to end human trafficking. This legislation takes one critical step towards this mission.” - Katie Papke, LMSW, CAADC, CCTP, Life Support Counseling and Coaching, LLC
Original source can be found here.
