Stores join effort to crack down on human trafficking
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – It’s a big boost in the fight against human trafficking.
A state lawmaker and representatives of the Indiana Attorney General’s Office on Wednesday unveiled a training plan with thousands of convenience stores statewide.
Stickers are going right inside those convenience stores that say “Are you safe? Need freedom?”
Scot Imus, executive director of the Indiana Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Stores Association, explained why the stickers might find people being exploited who need help and the training might find the exploiters.
“They’re not going to big grocery stores to buy a lot of food. They usually buy what to get through (the day),” he said. “They need gas, they use restrooms to freshen up and freshen up the people they may be exploiting.”
The training will go to convenience store clerks across the state. They will be trained on how to spot victims.
Juliana Williams, program director of Human Trafficking In Our Backyard, said the clerks will learn indicators of human trafficking. “Basic things they could recognize if victim or trafficker were in there store.”
Those indicators would include victims looking fearful, anxious or avoiding eye contact, or appearing malnourished.
Clerks will also watch a six-minute video about human trafficking. The training is free, and more than 500 store workers already have been trained.
The Indiana Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Stores Association leader said, “There’s 3,200 convenience stores in the state. We’d like to get every one of them.”
Juliana Williams is with Oregon-based Human Trafficking In Our Backyards, a group that fights human trafficking nationwide. Williams said she hopes through the stickers in a bathroom stall that victims “see that as a message of hope. Even though they’ve been beaten down mentally, physically, emotionally, that there is help available.”
On Wednesday, a Clark convenience store owner, Haitham Mohamed, put a sticker up in his store. He said he is joining the effort “because it helps save lives.”
Indiana Rep. Sally Siegrist, a Republican from West Lafayatte, said she hopes the effort saves lives, too. “Please, please find a way to stay safe but reach out. There are people working hard to help, but we need to know where you are.”
Resources
If you or someone you know is being trafficked, call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1 (888) 373- 7888 or text “HELP” or “INFO” to 233733. People can chat live 24/7 with an advocate at humantraffickinghotline.org/chat.
There are also resources available online from the Indiana attorney general.