TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - This year, Human Trafficking Awareness Day falls just two days after President Donald Trump signed a bill, tightening criteria to make sure countries are working to eliminate the crime.
The sunshine state has the third-highest human trafficking rate in the U.S. with at least 329 reported cases in 2018.
And many leaders hope awareness is one of the keys to fighting the issue.
"It's an epidemic that requires us to look at, in classic public health terms, prevention," said Terry Coonan the Executive Director at the FSU Center for the Advancement of Human Right.
According to the website for the National Human Trafficking Hotline, there were more than 5,000 cases reported nationwide in 2018 and since 2007, more than 45,000 cases.
That’s why local law enforcement and organizations such as Florida State University’s Center for the Advancement of Human Rights are doing all they can to raise awareness about this problem.
"We have actually pretty good prosecutorial laws here, what we need is more victim remedies. We need victims' ability to sue their traffickers," said Coonan.
Officer Denmark with the Tallahassee Police Department said another way to stop this nation wide issue is education.
“The more that we know about it and the fact that we are not denying that it exists and we are acknowledging that it exists and we have very important community partners that help in education,” said Officer Denmark.
California and Texas have highest human trafficking rate in the U.S. with 760 and 455 cases reported.
