Jacksonville to redouble efforts against human trafficking

On Monday morning, Jacksonville City Councilman Tommy Hazouri will meet with representatives from the State Attorney’s Office, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, and others with an aim toward eliminating the scourge of human trafficking.

Hazouri, who was successful in a push to get a law through in 2016 (2016-130), which mandated awareness signs to be posted at massage parlors and strip clubs, believes that the 2016 legislation was a “small step forward,” allowing more to be done.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office was indispensable in enforcing sign placement, and volunteer groups took the initiative of posting signs elsewhere also, Hazouri said.

The signs include the national hotline number, allowing those who might be victims of human trafficking, and those who might be aware that it is happening, to call up and offer law enforcement tips.

Hazouri would like to see signs in labor camps, at JAXPORT, and other places where international victims of human trafficking may be present.

Additionally, Hazouri wants to ensure that efforts from the State Attorney’s Office (which is ramping up a Human Rights division) and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office complement, rather than duplicate, each other.

Hazouri also believes that the victim services building has capacity to offer housing and treatment to victims of human trafficking.

The ultimate goal: “to stop human trafficking in our city.”

The coordinated effort, of course, will be multi-jurisdictional.

In October, the FBI made 26 arrests in Jacksonville, via the Operation Cross Country human trafficking sting.

All parties — federal, state, and local — would concur that’s just the tip of the iceberg.