National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) recently released 2015 data from its hotline.
In 2015, 407 cases of human trafficking were reported to the NHTRC from Florida, which is up from the 364 human trafficking cases reported the previous year. Since 2007, the NHTRC has received reports of 1,767 cases of human trafficking in Florida.
The breakdown of those 407 cases:
Sex Trafficking (302)
Labor Trafficking (68)
Trafficking Type Not Specified (24)
Sex and Labor (13)
TOP VENUES/INDUSTRIES FOR LABOR TRAFFICKING
Agriculture (13)
Restaurants/Food Service (10)
Domestic Work (8)
Traveling Sales Crews (7)
Health & Beauty Services (3)
TOP VENUES/INDUSTRIES FOR SEX TRAFFICKING
Hotel/Motel-Based (40)
Online Ad, Venue Unknown (30)
Commercial-Front Brothels (27)
Street-Based (21)
Escort Services (19)
Of the 407 cases, females were 86 percent of the victims (348), and 30 percent (122) were minors.
Polaris, a leader in the global fight to eradicate modern slavery and restore freedom to survivors, operates NHTRC hot line, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and other private donors.
The National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) is a 24-hour, confidential, multi-modal hotline serving the United States and U.S. territories. Experienced hotline specialists provide around-the-clock crisis support and connect human trafficking victims and survivors to shelter, counseling, legal aid, and other life-saving resources where available. The hotline also receives tips of suspected human trafficking cases and equips the anti-trafficking community with the tools to effectively combat all forms of human trafficking. The NHTRC is operated by Polaris and funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and other private donors. Polaris launched its BeFree Textline in 2013 to offer the same services via text. Currently, the BeFree Textline operates from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. EST.
In 2015, 5,973 cases of human trafficking were reported in the United States and overseas to the NHTRC and Polaris’s BeFree Textline. A total of 1,636 survivors of sex and labor trafficking reached out to the hotlines, a 24 percent increase over 2014. The hotlines identified thousands more potential victims through the calls of friends, family members, service providers, community members, and others. In total, 25,696 cases of human trafficking have been reported through the NHTRC and Polaris’s BeFree Textline since December 2007, establishing the largest data set on human trafficking in the U.S.
People can receive help or report a tip of suspected human trafficking by calling the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) at 1-888-373-7888 or by sending a text to Polaris at “BeFree†(233733).
