Governor Wolf Issues Proclamation to Recognize #WearBlueDay And National Initiative to Combat Human Trafficking

Governor Wolf Issues Proclamation to Recognize #WearBlueDay And National
Initiative to Combat Human Trafficking

1/11/2018-KING OF PRUSSIA

Governor Tom Wolf issued a proclamation today noting January 11, 2018, as
the
National Day of Human Trafficking Awareness and urged all Pennsylvanians to

become involved in the movement by wearing blue and using the hashtag
#WearBlueDay on social media to promote awareness of these efforts to
eradicate
human trafficking.

The governor's action followed up on steps this week by the Pennsylvania
Department of Transportation to sign the U.S. Department of
Transportation's
Transportation Leaders Against Human Trafficking pledge.

In his proclamation, the governor noted that human trafficking is a form of

slavery that severely victimizes vulnerable populations including women,
children, and impoverished individuals; and that instances have been
reported
in all 50 states.

"The National Human Trafficking Hotline reports that hundreds of cases of
suspected human trafficking are reported from within Pennsylvania per year,
and
countless others go unreported or undetected," according to the
proclamation.

PennDOT has trained 500 of its front-line Driver License Center employees
to
notice signs of a potential trafficking situation. PennDOT's 64 Welcome
Center
employees have also been trained.

In addition, through a partnership with the Pennsylvania Public
Transportation
Association, every transit agency director in the state has been trained
and
the aim is to have all of the nearly 15,000 transit agency employees
statewide
trained by July 1, 2018.

The training was developed by PennDOT in partnership with the Villanova Law

Institute to Address Commercial Sexual Exploitation, and Truckers against
Trafficking. The web-based training is also available to the rest of
PennDOT's
employees.

Additionally, PennDOT is now distributing wallet cards to Welcome Center
visitors as well as CDL holders and applicants at its Driver License
Centers,
which contain information regarding how to report a tip to law enforcement
when
suspecting human trafficking activities.

Pennsylvania enacted Act 105 in 2014 to define human trafficking and give
law
enforcement tools needed to go after traffickers.

The text of the proclamation follows:

WHEREAS, human trafficking is a form of slavery that severely victimizes
vulnerable populations including women, children, and impoverished
individuals;
and

WHEREAS, human trafficking occurs when a person is recruited, harbored,
transported or obtained for the purpose of commercial sex, forced labor,
involuntary servitude, debt bondage, or slavery through force, fraud, or
coercion, or if the victim has not reached the age of eighteen; and

WHEREAS, human trafficking denies freedom to millions of people in the
United
States and around the world; and

WHEREAS, cases of human trafficking have been reported and prosecuted in
all 50
states; and

WHEREAS, the National Human Trafficking Hotline reports that hundreds of
cases
of suspected human trafficking are reported from within Pennsylvania per
year,
and countless others go unreported or undetected; and

WHEREAS, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Department of Transportation
has
signed on to the United States Department of Transportation's
"Transportation
Leaders Against Human Trafficking," which seeks to align leadership,
training
and education, policy, public awareness, and information sharing and
analysis
efforts across government and transportation industry stakeholders in order
to
maximize and optimize efforts to combat this heinous crime.

THEREFORE, I, Tom Wolf, Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania do
hereby
proclaim January 11, 2018, as the NATIONAL DAY OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING
AWARENESS.
I urge all Pennsylvanians to become involved in this movement by wearing
blue
and using the hashtag #WearBlueDay on social media to promote awareness of
these efforts to eradicate human trafficking.

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