Preventing Human Trafficking in South Carolina is a main focus area within the State’s plan to address the crime. The Task Force believes that prevention is one of the most important tasks of our collective. The more educated our communities, the closer we become in preventing individuals from being victimized. We would rather prevent all men and women, adults and children from experiencing the trauma of being exploited at the hands of another. This will take combined efforts from law enforcement, health care providers, community advocates, and others throughout South Carolina. It will also take various approaches including promoting the National Human Trafficking Hotline, awareness posters, billboards, and special events that generate dialogue in our communities.
Legislation passed in 2015 mandating the posting of information about the National Human Trafficking Resource Center. The following establishments are required to post notices in no less than 8.5 x11 size in conspicuous places:
The South Carolina Office of the Attorney General, in partnership with the National Human Trafficking Hotline, posted three billboards (two sex trafficking and one labor trafficking) in the Myrtle Beach area. The goal is for the Task Force to sponsor more billboards throughout the state while targeting key areas for increased awareness efforts. The latter areas will be identified through data collection and research conducted by the Task Force’s Data Management workgroup.
South Carolina has partnered with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in promoting the Blue Campaign. The Blue Campaign is the unified voice for the DHS efforts to combat human trafficking. Among many things, this partnership includes awareness materials that will assist the Task Force in raising public consciousness regarding the crime. Many of the materials are available in English and Spanish with numerous resources also available in Arabic, Chinese, French, Haitian Creole, Hindi, Khmer, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Thai, and Vietnamese.
The Blue Campaign also has an “I Speak” poster that assists individuals literate in a language other than English. The poster features more than 60 languages that law enforcement officers, health care providers or other in the community can reference when providing assistance to a potential human trafficking victim. Additionally, victims can call the Homeland Security Investigations Tip line that is available 24 hours a day with language capability in over 300 languages and dialects.
Call: +1-888-373-7888
Text: 233733 (BeFree)
