By: FREEMAN KLOPOTT
Examiner Staff Writer
July 7, 2009
The District is rated as one of the top 10 locations for human trafficking in the country and several nonprofit groups told D.C. Council members that police officers should be trained to recognize human trafficking cases as the city steps up its efforts to fight it.
Representatives of groups like Polaris Project, Free the Slaves and Fair Fund made their request during a public hearing on a human trafficking bill Monday. If passed in its current form, the bill would make human trafficking for the purposes of sex and labor a crime. It would allow victims to sue their pimps and require the city to keep statistics on trafficking cases.
On Monday, the anti-human-trafficking groups also asked that the bill include training for police officers and other first responders.
"Young people are not able to express their victimization in ways that clearly identify it," said Andrea Powell, co-director of Fair Fund. "Cases that are not reported result in continued abuse."
The groups said District police officers received periodic training between 2004 and 2007, but it was cut when federal funding went dry. A police spokeswoman could not immediately confirm the training history....Read more
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