Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear is holding training sessions in far west Kentucky this month to bring awareness to human trafficking issues.
Many of the sessions are geared towards health care workers, law enforcement, first responders and civic leaders.
Beshear said human trafficking is modern-day slavery, in which adults and children are forced into sex or labor services.
“For those that don’t recognize human trafficking, here’s a simple fact. In the commonwealth of Kentucky there is no such thing as a child prostitute. That child is a victim who needs our help and that trafficker needs to be brought to justice.”
He said too many people think of Hollywood movies when they think of human trafficking, and says it occurs everyday in every Kentucky community.
“It involves such horrendous examples that we’ve seen as a foster parent selling his foster daughter’s body for furniture. Of a couple of parents who have dressed young children in clothes they should never be in and attempt to pimp them out outside of a movie theater. Those children are being trafficked.”
While people should want to report human trafficking of adults, he said, it is a “legal obligation and duty” to report incidents involving children.
Upcoming sessions are July 24 and 25 in McCracken and Marshall Counties. Later sessions this summer are in Fayette and Jefferson Counties. (See the details below per a release)
The Attorney General's office is working on 14 active cases and have assisted law enforcement in resolving 96 other complaints. The Department of Justice awarded funding to Beshear's office and the Catholic Charities of Louisville in 2016 to combat human trafficking.
Some Upcoming Sessions:
July 17-18
Keeneland staff
July 24
- 9 a.m. - Lourdes Hospital in Paducah for law enforcement and first responders
- Noon - Marshall County Rotary Club at Majestic Steak House in Benton
- 2 p.m. - Joe Creason Community Center in Benton for law enforcement and first responders
July 25
- 7:15 a.m. - Lourdes Hospital clinical staff
- 9 a.m. - Kentucky Association of Chiefs of Police Conference at Paducah Convention Center
July 28
Fayette County Public School staff
August 1
Jefferson County Public School psychologists
August 8
Juvenile Justice Advisory Board Conference in Lexington
