Truckers to the Rescue: Equipping Drivers to Report Trafficking

Convoy’s new partnership with Truckers Against Trafficking offers free training to drivers

According to Homeland Security, every year millions of men, women, and children are trafficked worldwide – including right here in the United States. It involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act. It can happen in any community, and victims can be any age, race, gender, or nationality. 

Those involved in human trafficking often exploit the transportation system in a bid to move their victims across the country with minimal visibility. Yet there is a hugely powerful coalition on the road every single day who can be trained to spot the signs of human trafficking: professional trucker drivers.

By nature of the job, truckers are exposed to the comings and goings of various industries as they make deliveries and frequent rest stops, hotels, motels, and restaurants at any given time. Additionally, there are much greater numbers of truckers than law enforcement on the road.

Convoy has recently partnered with Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT) to raise awareness and assist law enforcement in the identification and reporting of human trafficking. It is our goal to aid in the recovery of victims and the arrest of their perpetrators.

Through this partnership, Convoy and Truckers Against Trafficking have made a certification program for truckers available as part of Convoy’s Haul Star program.

Truckers watch a 26-minute video and then respond to a series of 14 questions in order to receive their certification. 

In addition to the training module on Haul Stars platform, all Convoy carriers now have access to the training material directly on Convoy’s website. 

“As the eyes and ears of our nation’s highways, truckers are in a unique position to make a difference and close loopholes to traffickers who seek to exploit our transportation system for their personal gain. The ability for us to partner with Convoy and reach a significant segment of the professional trucking industry provides us with an invaluable ally against this heinous crime.”

Kendis Paris, Executive Director/Co-Founder at Truckers Against Trafficking.

The training which Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT) offers is crucial in ending human trafficking, not just because it educates truckers — who are on the road all the time — but also because their calls and reports can help build a wealth of evidence and allow victims to seek justice.

Ms. Paris reports that since TAT was created in 2009, approximately 845,000 people in the transportation industry — over 700,000 of whom are truck drivers — have been trained.  The American Trucking Association reports there are a total of 3.5 million truck drivers who are employed in the U.S. Making the call is as simple as dialing 911 or the National Human Trafficking Hotline number, but it makes a huge difference in the fight against human trafficking.

About Truckers Against Trafficking

Truckers Against Trafficking is a national nonprofit organization that educates, equips, empowers and mobilizes the trucking, bus and energy industries to discover and disrupt human trafficking networks.

About Sustainability at Convoy

Convoy is focused on reducing the waste in trucking and supporting the communities where we live and work. Visit www.convoy.com/sustainability to learn about Convoy’s commitment to Sustainability.