BONITA (Florida) DAILY NEWS April 15, 2006 Saunders seeks $200,000 to fight slaveryIf the Legislature approves, the money would establish a task force and train law enforcers to combat traffickingHuman trafficking combatants calling for a statewide task force to stamp out slavery have found a sympathetic ear with the power to do something about it. State Sen. Burt Saunders, R-Naples, plans to ask the Legislature to set aside $200,000 for the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking to establish a task force and network to swap information on slavery cases and train law enforcers and service providers across the state. “The whole concept of slavery existing in this state is so abhorrent that I think fellow lawmakers will want to support this. I don’t see any difficulty in getting this funding,” said Saunders, who is a candidate for state attorney general. The Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking is based in Bonita Springs and works with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office to assist trafficking victims. The organization is working with seven victims from Lee and Collier counties. “We know we have identified other counties that have potential trafficking victims,” said Anna Rodriguez, founder and head of the Florida Coalition. “This is a huge partnership and we have to work together.” Because traffickers rotate victims through the state to duck below the radar, those fighting the crime should be working together as a team to uncover cases, said Rodriguez, who started fighting trafficking in 1999 and has led numerous trainings — many on a volunteer basis — across the state, country and outside the United States. In past cases, traffickers have rotated sex slaves working in makeshift brothels in mobile homes to serve migrant communities across the state. Florida is considered one of the three main hubs for trafficking people into the United States. The federal government estimates up to 17,000 people are trafficked into this country each year, but numbers are not precise on where victims end up. Rodriguez hopes more statewide coordination could yield data to better decide where to allocate resources. While many trafficking victims come from other countries, at least one recent Florida case involved U.S. citizens. Nola Theiss, program coordinator for Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking, hopes the organization can get state money to take its model of partnering between law enforcers, social service providers and the community to fight trafficking to other parts of the state. Theiss is a former Sanibel Island mayor. “If you have one community that’s very well trained in fighting trafficking, then the traffickers will simply move to another community,” she said. “Some communities are interested in forming task forces and we’d like to help them do that and we have some of the most qualified people in country.” So far, Florida Coalition staff and volunteers have been training agencies on a mostly volunteer basis. The organization wants Florida declared a no-trafficking zone. Saunders has also proposed lawmakers earmark $200,000 for Marion County women’s shelter to assist trafficking victims. The senator said he’ll bring a proposal for both programs to the budget conference starting Wednesday while acknowledging the Florida Coalition’s proposal might serve more people. Members of the Zonta Club of Sanibel-Captiva, which partners with the Rodriguez’s organization, have been asking Gov. Jeb Bush for a task force for months as well. A spokesman for the governor, who has veto power over items proposed in the state budget, wouldn’t comment until reviewing the proposal. “Once we receive the proposal, we will make a determination of its feasibility,” Russell Schweiss said. Those trying to root out trafficking outside of Southwest Florida lauded the idea. Heidi Hunter, Palm Bay Police Department’s intelligence and homeland security manager, said there is a pressing need for training law enforcers across the state. “Everybody’s got their head in the sand,” said Hunter, who was trained by Rodriguez and then helped start a Central Florida Human Trafficking Task Force. “Why do you only hear on the news about cases in Lee County, Fort Myers and Immokalee? It’s a total lack of education.” Regina Bernadin, a case manager for Florida Freedom Partnership, said agencies could benefit from sharing strategies and information across county lines. The Florida Freedom Partnership provides services to more than 70 trafficking victims from four South Florida counties, including Collier. “I think it would be great idea in a sense that it would help to know what’s out there when we need to relocate victims,” she said. “We know what New York and Arizona and California is doing but maybe there’s a disconnect with local programs.” Bills to toughen existing state legislation to fight trafficking are moving through the state Legislature.
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