City, Hamilton Health Hosting Human Trafficking Prevention Training
Tuesday, July 30th, 2024
The City of Dalton and Hamilton Health Care System are hosting a training conference this week to better equip law enforcement, first responders, and medical professionals to stop human trafficking. More than 150 people from four states signed up to attend the three day conference at the Dalton Convention Center. The conference is being funded by money from the National Opioid Settlement.
"One of the vulnerabilities that we have and one of the opportunities to thrive as a community is that we are situated right on I-75, so our geographic location in itself makes us vulnerable to human trafficking," Mayor Annalee Sams told conference attendees on Tuesday morning. "Everyone is aware that the opioid crisis in this country has greatly impacted people’s lives and it also has a very definite impact on human trafficking."
Caption: Dalton Mayor Annalee Sams welcomes attendees to a three day anti-human trafficking training conference at the Dalton Convention Center
The training conference is being led by Dan Nash and Jinisha Bhatt. Dan Nash is the founder of the Human Trafficking Training Center and a retired Missouri State Trooper. During his 27-year career, Nash spent 24 years in the criminal investigations unit and the human trafficking unit. Jinisha Bhatt is an anti-human trafficking and anti-money laundering instructor who investigated fraud, money laundering, and human trafficking at Scotiabank in Canada. Instead of focusing on human trafficking awareness, this week's conference will instead give both medical personnel as well as law enforcement or first responders information that will help them better identify and communicate with trafficking victims and investigate the crime. Topics will include the signs of trauma bonding and PTSD, as well as tips for investigations including how to transition from a routine call to a trafficking investigation and how to interview possible victims and suspects.
"From a medical standpoint, we get an opportunity when (victims) come to see medical people to have a different type of interaction than law enforcement," Judean Guinn, Hamilton's Chief Nursing Officer told the conference. "We might be the one group of people that they can come to that’s kind of outside, it’s more of a safe zone, so you will learn tips (this week) that we can use to interact with possibly people who are victims of human trafficking."
Caption: Police officers, firefighters, medical personnel, and community leaders take part in the human trafficking prevention conference at the Dalton Convention Center
The Mayor and Council of Dalton voted to authorize the use of funds from the National Opioid Settlement for the conference at their May 6th meeting. Under the terms of the settlement agreement, funds from the settlement can only be used for certain purposes. From those acceptable uses, the City of Dalton has elected to use the funds for human trafficking prevention, funding for the local Narcotics Anonymous chapter, and a partnership with Whitfield County’s Conasauga Community Addiction Recovery Center.
