Highlights and Successes of the New Hampshire Coalition Against Human Trafficking

Highlights and Successes of the New Hampshire Coalition
Against Human Trafficking
By: Jennifer Durant, Public Policy Specialist

After two years of intense work, the New Hampshire Coalition
Against Trafficking (NHCAT) came to a close this past Spring.
From 2009 to 2011 the Coalition partnered with Project Reach
located in Boston and created NHCAT, working with several
Northeastern states on human trafficking issues throughout the
region.
NHCAT was made up of a network of agencies and organizations in the work against human trafficking including social service
providers, law enforcement and other state agencies. Jennifer
Durant, Public Policy Specialist with the Coalition, acted as the
state Coordinator. The group was tasked with raising awareness of
the issue of human trafficking in New England, increasing the
number of victims identified, and creating pathways to connect
victims to services.
NHCAT was formed soon after Governor Lynch signed the
state’s first human trafficking bill into law in August 2009. In New
Hampshire, it is now a class A felony to traffic a human being for
labor and sexual exploitation. The law also allows the state to
convict a trafficker with enhanced penalties if they exploit someone under the age of 18.
On January 20, 2010, NHCAT held the biggest law enforcement
training on human trafficking in the state. Attendees ranged from
Prosecutors to State, County, Local, and Federal Law Enforcement
officials. A total of 95 Law Enforcement officials attended the
training; a little over 70% of attendees came from local police
departments (65 officers).
The training was designed to help police officers understand,
identify, and investigate human trafficking cases. The eight-hour
training curriculum included detecting and investigating cases that
involve human trafficking.
Thanks to the work of NHCAT:
• More than 4,300 materials on human trafficking were distributed throughout the state.
• Over 400 individuals were trained on human trafficking
issues. These trainings covered a wide-range of disciplines
including law enforcement, victim advocates, medical professionals, or professionals working in the child protection field.
The five Northeastern states who participated in the New
England Coalition were New Hampshire, Connecticut, Maine,
Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.
Collectively, our five states distributed nearly 30,000 materials
on human trafficking, while 6,960 individuals were trained on
human trafficking throughout the Northeast.
Three individuals were certified under the federal Trafficking
Victims Protection Act (TVPA) as victims of trafficking and received
services. Among the five states, 247 individuals were screened for
victimization, and a total of 392 individuals were referred for services.
Our work is clearly not done. The US Department of Justice
estimates that approximately 800,000 to 900,000 victims annually
are trafficked across international borders worldwide. In the
United States alone, there is an estimated 18,000 to 20,000 people being trafficked on American soil every year.
If you know or suspect someone is a victim of human trafficking,
you can call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-
3737-888.
OTHER HELPFUL CONTACTS:
NH Statewide Sexual Assault Hotline
(for Sex Trafficking cases) 1-800-277-5570
Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE);
Manchester, NH 1-800-XSECTOR (1-800-973-2867)
*Ask for RAC Manchester.
Boston, MA FBI Duty Line 617-742-5533
NH State Police Headquarters 1-800-852-3411
or 603-271-3636
United States Attorney’s Office,
District of NH (9-5: M/F) 603-225-1552
NH Attorney General’s Office (9-5: M/F) 603-271-3671
The Trauma Center, Project Reach;
Boston, MA 617-232-1303