Gov. Youngkin sings law giving more training to law enforcement to detect human trafficking - WWBT
HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) - Last week, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin signed 45 bills into law, including establishing training methods for law enforcement to detect human trafficking.
“This bill furthers the idea that we should do more with law enforcement and law enforcement should get that required training, make it compulsory, and even add it to the curriculum at the training academy,” Kaitlyn Savage, an advocate to prevent human trafficking, said.
Starting July 1, the Department of Criminal Justice Services will establish training standards for law enforcement personnel to recognize, report, and prevent human trafficking.
”Encouraging these trainings and seeing that this bill has been passed and it has been signed into law would be a great step to motivate law enforcement into taking these trainings and see what they can do to help human trafficking victims,” Savage said.
According to experts, law enforcement can regularly come in contact with human trafficking victims, but they can be labeled as criminals, and if they don’t know the signs to look for, they can miss the opportunity to help someone in danger.
“They’re actually coming in contact with law enforcement more so seen as criminals, but if you look at the right signs and you’re trained on what the proper signs are, then you can get them the help that they need,” Savage said.
Experts say that human trafficking can mirror domestic violence cases, but there are signs which go beyond domestic violence that can tip off law enforcement about trafficking.
“If they’re answering for them or if the victim in the case, they could be a criminal... if they just seem very timid and scared around this person and they’re fearful to speak, I think that’s really important,” Savage said.
Many larger cities in Virginia already have similar training procedures in place, but smaller departments in rural areas, such as the Shenandoah Valley, have had fewer resources for this type of training.
“Only cities or regions within Virginia who see human trafficking more often or have human trafficking task force so like in Hampton Roads and Henrico County, up in northern Virginia that’s usually where we’re seeing law enforcement do these trainings,” Savage said. “Not so much in these rural areas, especially in Staunton, Waynesboro, they’re not really doing these trainings.”
Advocates say, signing this bill into law is a step in the right direction to preventing human trafficking in Virginia.
“Trust your gut, that’s the best resource you can have,” Savage said.
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source: https://www.nbc12.com/2022/04/08/gov-youngkin-sings-law-giving-more-training-law-enforcement-detect-human-trafficking/
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