HELP Inc Joins TAT, AG Brnovich and other Industry Partners To Combat Arizona Human Trafficking

by Jake Tully - Published: 1/22/2018

Help Inc. announced that it recently joined Truckers Against Trafficking, the Arizona Trucking Association, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich and Albertsons, Inc for a press conference on January 17 in Phoenix to announce a statewide partnership that will help in rescuing victims of human trafficking.

The non-profit source behind the PrePass services announced earlier today that as a platinum sponsor of Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT) the company is aiding in providing awareness among the 57,000-plus fleets that currently utilize the company’s PrePass system.

Karen Rasmussen, HELP President and CEO reports that the company does not aim to send the same message as TAT or the other organizations in the partnership, but to use their resources to help send out effective messages.

“HELP’s goal is not to duplicate work that others are doing to raise awareness of the issue and of TAT training, but rather to augment it,” said Rasmussen. “We are doing this through social media posts and blogs that focus on the hundreds of thousands of drivers that utilize PrePass, as well as the distribution of TAT materials in driver areas at weigh stations where allowed.”

HELP reports that TAT is currently promoting its Freedom Drivers Project, a mobile exhibit considered first of its kind that is designed to educate trucking industry members and the general public about the nature of human trafficking how human trafficking can be fought.

The company says that Attorney General Brnovich created a unit in 2015 solely dedicated to combating sexual exploitation and human trafficking in his state, and that in 2017 the National Human Trafficking Hotline received more than 200 tips regarding human trafficking incidents within Arizona.

Additionally, HELP reports that the office of the Attorney General will donate funds in order to pay for stickers that list the National Human Trafficking hotline with the phrase “Do You Need Help?” that may be displayed on a driver’s window.

According to HELP, TAT has partnered alongside several law enforcement agencies across the United States in order to train truckers to be able to recognize and report instances of human trafficking.

HELP also reports that 23 of the 32 states that utilize the company’s PrePass system are actively engaged alongside the TAT, and that Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Washington and Ohio require entry-level drivers to receive training from the TAT.