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Cleveland Regional Transit Authority to train Bus and Train drivers to look out for Human Trafficing

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  • Member since
    March 2013
  • 252 posts
Cleveland Regional Transit Authority to train Bus and Train drivers to look out for Human Trafficing
Posted by Bonas on Tuesday, May 21, 2013 12:56 PM

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/05/cleveland_rta_supports_interna.html

This one of those Huh moments...Till I read the fine print and seems some grant writer at RTA figured how to finagle some money out of Homeland Security.

  • Member since
    August 2012
  • 3,727 posts
Posted by John WR on Tuesday, May 21, 2013 3:26 PM

I have to agree, Bonas.  When I think of the problems of human trafficking the first group to fight it that jumps into my mind is not bus drivers.  But I read the article you give a link to.  Perhaps we should both suspend our judgement for a while.  Here is part of what it says:

"Last week, three women -- Michelle Knight, Gina DeJesus and Amanda Berry -- escaped a decade of captivity in Cleveland home of Ariel Castro, who faces rape and kidnap charges.

In another instance last week, federal prosecutors accused an Elyria man of getting young women hooked on drugs, forcing them to work as prostitutes and holding them as 'virtual prisoners.'

RTA's vote on human trafficking was coincidental to the Seymour Avenue tragedy, Calabrese said after Tuesday's meeting. But the timing shows that such crimes are closer to home 'and more widespread than anyone knows.'"

RTA already offers harbor to troubled juveniles with its Safe Place program. All buses and trains have yellow-and-black, diamond-shaped Safe Place signs, which signal that juveniles can report problems to a driver.

The driver calls a boss or transit police officer to meet the bus or train. They can take the juvenile to a shelter or have them meet a Safe Place volunteer.

The human trafficking campaign is the "next level" of outreach, Calabrese said."

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