Law enforcement personnel in 50 states, five Canadian provinces and Mexico participated in this year’s Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) Human Trafficking Awareness Initiative (HTAI), an annual five-day human trafficking awareness and outreach campaign.
During the campaign, participating enforcement and industry members educated individuals about the crime of human trafficking, indicators to look for and what to do when a victim of human trafficking has been identified. CVSA collaborated with TAT (formerly known as Truckers Against Trafficking) to offer human trafficking identification and prevention training and reference materials to the motor carrier industry and law enforcement.
This year, 41,102 wallet cards, 17,033 window decals and 2,468 posters were ordered and distributed. There were 87 human trafficking outreach events, and 267 presentations were delivered. In addition, 670 media contacts were made and there were 161 reported social media posts.
Starting from November 2024, when the 2025 Human Trafficking Awareness Initiative dates were announced, the estimated media reach was nearly 140 million, peaking in January during the U.S. HTAI dates, with a daily average reach of nearly 627,000. CVSA’s website received 9,830 hits to its Human Trafficking Prevention Program webpages.
In addition, from Dec. 16, 2024, to Feb. 29, 2025, human trafficking public service announcement (PSA) videos aired during commercial breaks of Paramount/CBS streaming television shows and movies on Pluto TV, Paramount+, EYEQ Local and Paramount/CBS Spanish-language channels. Combined, those PSAs yielded more than 16 million impressions.
Some examples of this year’s HTAI outreach, awareness and educational activities include:
- Louisiana State Police Transportation Safety Services created a video for social media.
- Indiana State Police secured media coverage. In addition, school bus inspectors delivered presentations to school district transportation staff and distributed materials to school transportation officials and drivers across the state.
- Nebraska State Police Col. John Bolduc, Governor Jim Pillen and Attorney General Mike Hilgers held a press conference at the Nebraska state capitol to recognize January as Human Trafficking Awareness Month.
- Washington State Patrol provided human trafficking awareness training to more than 270 motorcoach and school bus drivers.
- New York State Department of Transportation representatives met with state legislators regarding human trafficking legislation; the state’s Safe DRIVE detail was combined with HTAI to expand outreach; new roadside inspection trailers were deployed with TAT and CVSA logos and contact information for reporting suspected human trafficking; and handouts were disseminated at the New York City Port Authority bus terminal.
CVSA’s Human Trafficking Prevention Program seeks to eliminate the crime of human trafficking through coordinated enforcement and investigations and educational awareness.
If you suspect someone is in a human trafficking situation or you are the victim of human trafficking:
To find out what your local jurisdiction is doing to increase human trafficking awareness and prevent human trafficking throughout the year, contact the agency/department responsible for overseeing commercial motor vehicle safety within your state, province or territory.
View last year’s HTAI results.
McCraren Compliance offers many opportunities in safety training to help circumvent accidents. Please take a moment to visit our calendar of classes to see what we can do to help your safety measures from training to consulting.
Original article published by CVSA