Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said an initiative launched by his office has the potential to become a “game changer” in fighting human trafficking.
The initiative mobilizes communities and landlords to identify and shutter illicit massage businesses that might be enabling human trafficking.
“We know that human trafficking is happening in our communities, and the H.O.P.E. Initiative has the potential to be a real game changer in our fight against it,” Cameron said Wednesday.
Last October, the Attorney General’s Office of Trafficking and Abuse Prevention and Prosecution launched the Human Trafficking Outreach Prevention and Education Initiative, or H.O.P.E Initiative. The goal is to make Kentucky inoperable for businesses that engage in human trafficking.
Since then, landlords in Bullitt, Fayette, Hardin and Laurel counties were notified of suspected human trafficking on their property, Cameron’s office said. More than half the landlords contacted terminated or declined to renew leases with the alleged illicit businesses, it said.
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Republished with permission from The Associated Press
