Tri-Cities, Wash. – Human trafficking happens all around us according to Senior Director of Industry Training Outreach for Truckers Against Trafficking. The organization is trying to leverage bystander intervention and use eyes already on the road to stop labor and sex trafficking nationwide.
The organization offers training to anyone but focuses its efforts on semi-truck drivers and bus drivers who Cyrus said are already in areas where trafficking happens.
“Traffickers are exploiting places like rest areas, truck stops, hotels, motels, city streets, places of business. All of these locations where there are also truck drivers,” Cyrus said. “Every day. Every day there are more professional drivers on the road than there are law enforcement officers.”
She said the less than thirty-minute training video shows truckers what to look out for including red flags, but overall encourages truckers to be more vigilant.
“We had this idea to basically train all of these people who are already out there – trained to be vigilant, observant – trained to read every sign as they go down the highway or down the roads and help them understand what these red flags are,” Cyrus said.
The training has already reached 1.7 million people according to Cyrus leading to many stories from truckers who have intervened in trafficking situations they’ve noticed.
Truckers at a rest stop in Prosser said they’ve had the training and it’s helped them look out for something that could be impacting people’s children or other loved ones.
Cyrus said the Truckers Against Trafficking Training and phone app have led to thousands of calls and countless lives saved.
