The January 20th statewide law enforcement training on human trafficking was a successful event in which almost 100 NH Law Enforcement Officers attended. The attendees ranged from Prosecutors to State, County, Local, and Federal Law Enforcement officials.

Jennifer Durant, NHCADSV’s Public Policy Specialist is the State Coordinator for the New Hampshire Coalition Against Trafficking (NHCAT), who has been planning the event for months. NH’s law enforcement learned about detecting and investigating cases that involve human trafficking and was designed to help police officers understand, identify, and investigate human trafficking cases in New Hampshire.

The training comes after Governor Lynch signed the state’s first human trafficking bill into law in August 2009. Just in effect January 1st of this year, it is now a class A felony to traffic a human being for labor and sexual exploitation. The law also allows the state to convict a trafficker with enhanced penalties if they exploit someone under the age of 18.

NHCAT’s mission is to raise awareness of human trafficking throughout New Hampshire and implement trainings such as this one. Jennifer Durant noted that “it is extremely important to increase our knowledge on the issue of human trafficking.” She stated. “Without training law enforcement, prosecutors, and other key stakeholders throughout the state, we are in serious danger of not holding traffickers accountable, while innocent men, women and children are continually victimized.”