The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority highlighted its efforts in combatting human trafficking to a global virtual audience today.
The 2020 USDOT Transportation Leaders Against Human Trafficking (TLAHT) webinar included VTA General Manager and CEO Nuria Fernandez as a speaker along with other transportation and law enforcement professionals. The audience of 700 signed in from 47 U.S. states and 10 countries to learn about various approaches to fighting the crime of Human Trafficking.
The US. Department of Transportation is heavily involved in trying to thwart the crime because traffickers take advantage of the easy and open access of public transportation for mobility.
“The transportation sector plays a critical role to counter this horrible crime,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, who opened the two-hour webinar.
Discussion panels focused on three areas: Survivor Perspectives, State and Local Efforts and Private Sector and Airport Efforts. Fernandez, who also serves as Chair of the American Public Transportation Association, addressed her remarks on the state and local efforts, of which VTA has a role in both.
“I am proud to say that California legislation scheduled to take effect in the New Year requiring all transit agencies to train their frontline employees on how to recognize, and act on, the signs of human trafficking was modeled after VTA’s training program,” Fernandez told the audience.
VTA began offering human trafficking awareness training to bus and train operators in 2015. Modeling state legislation after VTA’s program, South Bay State Assemblymember Ash Kalra sponsored AB 2034, , which was signed by then-Governor Jerry Brown in 2018. The law takes effect January 1, 2021.
Among VTA’s resources to combat Human Trafficking is a $350-thousand-dollar grant from the Federal Transit Administration. VTA is augmenting the grant with its own funding and plans an extensive campaign with the theme Not on Transit (NoT) to continue training, public education, and enhancing its mobile security app VTAlerts to be used to report incidents that happen on transit.
VTA is also a member of Santa Clara County’s Human Trafficking Commission, established to coordinate services for victims and approaches for catching and punishing perpetrators of human trafficking. Other members of the commission, which is coincidentally led by outgoing VTA Chair Cindy Chavez, include law enforcement, social and mental health services, court system representatives, in addition to community organizations that provide resources for victims of violence. Members of the commission work together to address the problem from all angles in Santa Clara County. VTA is honored to be one integral part of that effort.
You can find more information about the crime of Human Trafficking here. For questions about VTA’s public education and training program, please contact VTA Deputy Director of the Office of Civil Rights Jaye Bailey.