1. The Challenge:
It’s difficult to imagine the true scope of modern day slavery and to accept that it is happening right here in Colorado. Human Trafficking–both sex and labor trafficking–is a monumental challenge to track and accurately measure in Colorado, across the U.S. and around the world. Even if we understood the full scope, one of the barriers to ending this human tragedy lies in the massive undertaking required to raise awareness and adequately engage the general population, law enforcement officials, legislative bodies and needed restoration services for vitims.
The 4 P’s model in battling human trafficking includes Prevention, Protection, Prosecution and Partnerships. To prevent trafficking, demand must decrease through awareness and proper deterrents. To help victims, both government and non-government agencies must coordinate efforts to navigate and employ the complex professional services essential for victims to become successful survivors.
In order to deter perpetrators, adequate laws that lower the barrier to prosecute pimps and ring leaders are a must. This must be coupled with law enforcement training to recognize when trafficking is at play. They must have the tools to determine if the 15 year-old boy or girl they picked up and booked for prostitution last night was, in fact trafficked by that pimp, against their will, and trapped in the ‘the life’ through a mind-boggling process of psychological and physical abuse.
Human trafficking awareness training began with only a few Colorado law enforcement groups as late as 2006. Though the process of hard work creating essential legislation began around this time, when it came to a set of ten criteria determined by the Polaris Project for fighting trafficking at the state level, Colorado had an “F” as late as 2011.
The 4th P of fighting trafficking is Partnerships, another essential component of taking on the monumental task of battling modern slavery. Colorado boasts a host of groups dedicated to the fight. One of those groups is the Human Trafficking Task Force of Southern Colorado.
2. The Process
The mission of the Human Trafficking Task Force of Southern Colorado – which is the sponsoring organization for Human Trafficking Awareness Day at the Colorado State Capitol (HTAD) – includes “reducing human trafficking, through advocacy and awareness.”
In the fall of 2012, tFPR President Tamra Farah took on the role as Founder and Event Chair for the Human Trafficking Awareness Day at the Colorado State Capitol, hosting the first event in February of 2013.
The purpose of the event is to raise awareness and provide important information for legislators as they consider working to pass necessary laws to end modern slavery in Colorado. The agenda has included a Human Trafficking 101 and 4 P’s Presentation by experts, the writing and presentation of an annual Human Trafficking Resolution in both the Colorado State House and State Senate and a Rally with reports from top law enforcement officials, as well as testimony from a survivor of sex trafficking.
An HTAD Legislative Host Committee was formed to provide advocacy and internal support among peers, and a 12 page booklet is updated annually and presented to participating citizens and legislators, with important human trafficking definitions and statistics, existing laws on the books in Colorado, a list of key organizations around the state, and more.
““ The purpose of the event is to raise awareness and provide important information for legislators as they consider proposing and work to pass necessary laws to battle modern slavery.””
3. The Outcome:
In its 3rd year, Human Trafficking Awareness Day at the Colorado State Capitol 2015 was covered by Denver affiliates for CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox 31, and on radio with 710 KNUS, 560 KLZ, 740 KVOR and KRDO. Significantly, the media told the story of hope in the face of the unimaginable tragedy of trafficking. Jessa Dillow-Crisp took the podium at the Capitol and explained the horror of being trafficked as little girl by her father, brutalized sexually by police, and horribly used during the 2010 Winter Olympics, forced to service up to 50 men a day.
From 2011 to 2014 Colorado went from an “F” to a “B” according to the Polaris Project rating of states, and was named in 2014 among the top ten in the nation in the fight against human trafficking. The passage of HB 1273 last year, co-sponsored by two HTAD Legislative Host Committee members provides a comprehensive definition of human trafficking, bringing Colorado law up to national standards in this category.
Over 200 citizens and legislators attended the events for HTAD 2015 and legislators were provided with awareness and education on the issue of human trafficking to craft additional legislation, while the stories of courageous human trafficking survivors, like Jessa, have brought hope to many in the face of a bleak social ill.
A more robust social media plan was implemented and tracked in 2015 with the launch of the Facebook Page: Human Trafficking Awareness Day at the Colorado State Capitol 2.19.15. The page was established on January 2, 2015 and as of March 8, with 696 likes, it boasted 1.9K interactions by 1.7K unique users and 78.5K impressions, and posts were shared a total of 161 times. HTAD email campaigns to potential participants averaged an open rate of 30.5% with an industry average of a 24% open rate, while the open rate among legislators and their staff was at 44% when industry average for government is 27%. Press releases garnered a very high open rate, averaging 45% when industry the industry average for media is a 23% open rate.
Though the fight to end human trafficking has barely begun, the advancements that have been made can hardly be attributed to one group or event.
The significance of the Partnerships it takes to combat trafficking including the host of efforts by our state legislature, Colorado Attorney General’s office, various District Attorney’s offices–including Denver, the 4th Judicial and in JeffCo–the FBI, Homeland Security, local police departments and numerous non-government agencies, cannot be under estimated. Human Trafficking Awareness Day at the Colorado State Capitol is honored to be one of many engaged in the battle to end modern slavery in Colorado.
