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BOTL launched a victim-centered poster campaign in partnership with the Nevada Highway Patrol and Vector Media. BOTL’s posters can be seen at bus shelters and on buses throughout the city of Las Vegas. These posters — created in consultation with survivors of domestic sex trafficking — use language and images intended to be eye catching for victims, so they know there are resources out there to support them. In seeking to reach victims with this campaign, Trooper Brian Drohn with the Nevada Highway Patrol emphasized, “You’re not alone. We’re here for you. Our hands are outstretched, and we want to help. This life does not need to be your reality — your nightmare — anymore.”
BOTL facilitated the donation of bus vouchers from Megabus to the National Human Trafficking Hotline after Megabus fully implemented the BOTL training for all of its current
and new drivers. Megabus, servic-
ing more than 100 major cities in North America, provided vouchers, so survivors working with law enforcement or a service provider can travel for
free along Megabus routes for certain reasons. During the second half of 2019, 56 percent of the vouchers used helped survivors (and dependents) get home to their family support system, and 44 percent helped survivors get to a service provider/shelter location.
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TRUCKERS AGAINST TRAFFICKING 2019 ANNUAL REPORT
As state laws only permit casinos in certain geographic areas, gaming towns are scattered throughout the United States. Recognizing that many bus companies specialize in transport- ing casino patrons to those towns, BOTL is working to close loopholes to traffickers at the intersection between buses and casinos. Using TAT’s successful CB model, BOTL hosted its first CB, specifically bringing together law enforcement with casinos and the bus companies that serve them. Partnering with the Colorado Attorney General’s Office and the Colorado Gaming Association, BOTL hosted this pilot initiative in Golden, Colorado and shared its new resource, “Casinos Combating Human Trafficking: A Toolkit for Casinos & Bus Companies,” with participants. The CB was attended by 85 law enforce- ment and key industry representatives in Colorado. In feedback surveys, 90 percent of respondents said they’re now better prepared to identify human trafficking, while 100 percent
said they’d recommend this training to others in their field.
A Colorado State Patrol officer described the presentation given by TAT Field Trainer and Survivor Advocate Annika Huff, as “one of the most powerful testimonies I have ever heard.” Shown: BOTL Director Annie Sovcik presented at the CB.