Clearwater accepts human trafficking training grant
By LESTER R. DAILEY
Article published on Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2008  |
CLEARWATER – Nearly two years ago, the U.S. Department of Justice awarded the Clearwater Police Department a grant to establish the Clearwater Area Task Force on Human Trafficking.
The task force is so successful that it has become a model for law enforcement agencies nationwide.
On Aug. 7, the City Council accepted a $99,730 federal Bureau of Justice Assistance grant to make Clearwater a “Human Trafficking Task Force Leadership and Immersion Training Site,” where Human Trafficking Task Force members from other jurisdictions can come for in-depth training in the latest techniques for recognizing and combating human trafficking.
The grant will be used, among other things, to develop lesson plans for the instruction, identify “best practices” for new and existing Human Trafficking Task Forces to employ and take care of the logistics of turning Clearwater into a training site for federally-selected law enforcement officers.
To implement the program, Clearwater police will partner with the YWCA of Tampa Bay, World Relief, Gulfcoast Legal Services and the St. Petersburg Regional Policing Institute. Part of the money will be used to buy two laptop computers for the YWCA and World Relief. Other uses for the money include police overtime and travel expenses, vehicle rental, printing and graphics, office supplies, and the purchase of such hardware as an LCD projector, a video teleconferencing system, a speaker phone system, a fax machine and a wireless microphone system.
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Article published on Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2008
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