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Truckers Against Trafficking Combat Prostitution At Rest Stops

First Posted: 03/ 5/2012 12:48 pm Updated: 03/ 6/2012 1:20 am

When truck drivers break at a rest stop, they're often confronted by young girls working in the sex trade -- a trend a new human rights campaign hopes to combat.

Between 2004 and 2009, the FBI set up a series of countrywide stings at truck stops where they found an overwhelming number of pimps dispensing their prostitutes, MyNews3 reports. To educate drivers on how to protect these girls, and potentially liberate them from being trafficked, Truckers Against Trafficking has launched a campaign to fight the $32 billion industry.

The program trains drivers how to identify a prostitute and encourages them to contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline if they come into contact with trafficked workers, 9News reports.

"Truckers are the eyes and ears of our nation's highways and can make a substantial difference in this fight," Truckers Against Trafficking National Director Kendis Paris told 9News.

In Nevada, where an estimated 400 children are being trafficked each night, Assemblyman John Hambrick hopes that the new initiative will help put a stop to this crime.

"We need to stop the demand," Hambrick told MyNews3. "The buyers that come who want to buy these young girls and boys need to be aware that there will be a price to be paid."

Learn more about Truckers Against Trafficking's mission here.

Click through our slideshow below to learn which states have the strongest sex trafficking laws:

Related on HuffPost:

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The Polaris Project, a nonprofit combatting human trafficking in the United States, has ranked the 10 most important state statutes that should be enforced to prevent or end human trafficking. Having implemented 7-9 of the 10 statutes, California is one of the states that does the most to stop trafficking.
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When truck drivers break at a rest stop, they're often confronted by young girls working in the sex trade -- a trend a new human rights campaign hopes to combat. Between 2004 and 2009, the FBI set ...
When truck drivers break at a rest stop, they're often confronted by young girls working in the sex trade -- a trend a new human rights campaign hopes to combat. Between 2004 and 2009, the FBI set ...
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01:14 PM on 03/09/2012
So glad to see truckers willing to help in this area, as truck stops are such a major hot spot for trafficking. They will be able to see trafficking occurring in all states, because sadly, trafficked children come from every state, both rural and urban areas, and from all socio-economic classes.

Shared Hope International has worked both domestically and around the world operating various initiatives and programs that enhance sex trafficking awareness, give training to professionals facilitate rescue and restoration of those victims, and encourage policymakers to establish laws to protect vulnerable women and children while bringing justice to the offenders. Visit www.sharedhope.org to learn more.
08:07 PM on 03/08/2012
I'm wondering if they'd be interested in this young woman and the book she wrote, Boys Will Be Boys. It's about the husband of a very famous woman who procured young women, including the mother of 2 disabled children, introducing them into a life or prostitution, threatening them, getting some of them hooked on drugs, etc. What horrible people! They all belong in jail.

Look up Boys Will Be Boys on Am a zon and you'll see just who I'm talking about...you'll be surprised and disgusted. Everyone knows who he is and who his wife is!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
cafebeege
10:23 PM on 03/07/2012
Out of curiosity, does law enforcement have any idea of how many years this has been commonly going on ? Or, any retired truckers out there know ? Was this commonly known by truckers all the way back in say the 1980's ? Were young women abducted or kidnapped and "disappeared" or went missing ?
07:21 PM on 03/07/2012
The program trains drivers how to identify a prostitute and encourages them to contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline if they come into contact with trafficked workers, 9News reports.

Program, for this... didnt think it was hard to figure out... When some young girl walks up and asked if your looking for commericail company, it's a no brainer.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
smartcindy
Illegitimata Non Carborundum...
08:11 PM on 03/07/2012
it's not about teaching identification really, it's telling them this is an issue, putting the users on notice that they can be part of the problem, or part of the solution...ALSO, who and how to turn these folks in to...
09:08 PM on 03/07/2012
It is a failure. You either have morals or you dont... long long before this program started driver with morals would remind other drivers without that these girls are someones daughters, sisters or what ever... You either have morals or you don't. You either want to help or you don't. Go to truck stops listen to a CB you will then understand. East coast runs alot of Russians, West Coast just alot of runaways.
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Hollywood053
Capo di tutti capi
12:48 PM on 03/07/2012
" NO LOT LIZARDS " When I was driving big rigs I had this sticker on both of my windows.....not saying it helped any, you still have to tell them your not interested or just get lost when they don't take NO for an answer.
09:29 PM on 03/07/2012
Especially in the South. The stickers almost seemed like magnets for them.
09:24 AM on 03/07/2012
As Ray from The Trailer Park Boys would say, "Friends of the road, Bubbles"
12:17 AM on 03/07/2012
So damn sad.....May they all find Peace in their souls! Semper Fi!
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05:13 PM on 03/06/2012
This isn't just prostitution, this is sexual enslavement. Nobody should be kidnapped and forced into sexual slavery or any kind of slavery. This is something out of the dark ages :(
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Robert Nix
My bio is not micro
02:16 PM on 03/06/2012
Give them free high speed internet, educate about STD's, and the demand will drop. This will not eliminate it completely (it could even led to other problems.) I believe the result would be a net reduction.
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10:53 AM on 03/06/2012
I don't want to believe that the people posting here really believe men should be allowed to force force teenagers into prostitution. Do these posters have sisters and daughters ??
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05:43 PM on 03/07/2012
I don't have sisters or daughters, but I'm not for forcing anyone to do anything. If an adult wishes to sell their bodies for sex, I don't have a problem with it.
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11:48 PM on 03/07/2012
Young girls become adult girls. Perhaps we should insist that people be paid a livable wage and decent benefits. The rich are taking too much of the profit for themselves and the middle class is disappearing.
08:09 PM on 03/08/2012
It's about the men who make money from these women who sell themselves. They can't get away from them. They threaten them, their families and friends. The men behind these young women need to be jailed and let them see how it feels to be used by others!
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MISTERUNCONVENTIONAL
The only attitude I've ever had is a bad one.
09:43 AM on 03/06/2012
"The program trains drivers how to identify a prostitute"

I suppose the pink tube-top, miniskirt and high heels --- SHOULD have been my first clue.
-- esp since it was February.
08:00 PM on 03/06/2012
Watch the kids getting on and off a school bus-even the younger girls dress like that and walk like hookers too. Their parents ought to be ashamed. All schools should require uniforms for students.
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05:39 PM on 03/07/2012
Yes! All people should look and act exactly the same!
09:19 PM on 03/07/2012
That was usually the transvestites.
09:37 AM on 03/06/2012
lol at truckers "combating" this. if they didnt like it in the first place it wouldnt even be there.
08:05 PM on 03/06/2012
Wrong. A lot of truckers won't stop in rest areas and unguarded truck stops because hookers are a menace. Many give them money just to get them to leave them alone. Truckers are not the only men trolling truckstops and rest areas now days, they're just the ones that get blamed for the perversion.
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09:10 AM on 03/07/2012
As a driver--been there seen that !! I won't stop at certain truckstops because of it.. Last thing I want is someone banging on the truck door at 3am.. I need to get moving in 2 hours... This country would be shocked.. This is only the tip of the iceberg !!
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LamAng
You can't change anything with a fist.
09:26 AM on 03/06/2012
Another thing that should be legalized?
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WomenOnGuard
09:19 AM on 03/06/2012
This sounds like a good idea! Hopefully, many truckers will participate in this serious matter.
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09:11 AM on 03/07/2012
We do--I ignore them!!
09:18 AM on 03/06/2012
"We need to stop the demand"

good luck stopping the demand for sex
09:22 PM on 03/07/2012
That's why all men need a wife, then another wife, perhaps a girlfriend in every city they visit, and then another wife for good measure. So Biblical