(Courtesy of Attorney General Dustin McDaniel's Office.)
The final report of the Attorney General’s State Task Force for the Prevention of Human Trafficking has been presented to members of the General Assembly, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel announced.
The Task Force’s report identifies 19 recommendations for the State to consider as it addresses the wide-ranging and growing problem of human trafficking. Chief Deputy Attorney General Brad Phelps presented the final report at a joint meeting of the House and Senate judiciary committees, the Senate Children and Youth Committee and the House Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs Committee.
“A group of 40 men and women who are dedicated to ending human trafficking in our State worked tirelessly over the course of eight months to develop this plan,” McDaniel said. “Their findings and recommendations represent a clear strategy for addressing this problem and make clear that we want Arkansas to be a safe haven for anyone seeking to escape captivity and reclaim his or her freedom.”
The Human Trafficking Act of 2013 called for McDaniel to establish the task force, which was to address every aspect of human trafficking in the state, including the forced labor and sex trafficking of U.S. citizens and foreign nationals. McDaniel was a leading support of the Act, which had broad bipartisan support and earned the state national recognition for its efforts.
The Task Force was established in November 2013. Its final report represents a comprehensive state plan to prevent the crime, improve information sharing among governmental and nongovernmental organizations that deal with the problem, improve resources available to trafficking victims and increase public awareness of human trafficking.
Click here for the final report and 19 recommendations.
Assistant Attorney General Will Jones and Reagan Stanford of Catholic Charities of Arkansas served as co-chairs of the task force.
