{"id":20161,"date":"2022-01-21T15:24:23","date_gmt":"2022-01-21T20:24:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=20161"},"modified":"2022-01-21T15:26:01","modified_gmt":"2022-01-21T20:26:01","slug":"montana-free-press-tribes-missing-from-states-discussion-on-trafficking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2022\/01\/21\/montana-free-press-tribes-missing-from-states-discussion-on-trafficking\/","title":{"rendered":"Montana Free Press: Tribes missing from state’s discussion on trafficking"},"content":{"rendered":" \"Human<\/a>
Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte (R), second from left, and Attorney General Austin Knudsen (R), second from right, discuss human trafficking at a roundtable with law enforcement and local leaders in Missoula on Tuesday, January 11, 2022. Photo Mara Silvers \/ Montana Free Press<\/figcaption>\r\n
Governor and attorney general host roundtable on human trafficking<\/div>\r\n
Officials discussed ways to improve state and local law enforcement responses.<\/div>\r\n
Friday, January 21, 2022<\/div>\r\n
By Mara Silvers<\/div>\r\n
Montana Free Press<\/DIV>\r\n
montanafreepress.org<\/A><\/DIV>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nMISSOULA, Montana — Gov. Greg Gianforte and Attorney General Austin Knudsen last Tuesday hosted a roundtable discussion about how to improve Montana\u2019s handling of human trafficking cases<\/a>, a topic the two officials said is critical following a year of investigations by the state Department of Justice. \r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe event took place at the State Crime Lab in Missoula and focused predominantly on how law enforcement can better identify and intervene in cases where people are being exploited for sex and labor.

<\/p>\r\n\r\n\u201cEveryone likes to think that human trafficking and sex slavery don\u2019t happen in Montana because that\u2019s a big city problem,\u201d Knudsen said during opening remarks. \u201cAnd that\u2019s just sadly not the case.\u201d

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Bills will recognize indigenous people, both living and lost, are being heard at the Montana Legislature.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

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<\/P>\r\nKnudsen said the Division of Criminal Investigation within DOJ tracked 41 human trafficking cases in 2021, up from seven in 2015. The department has two dedicated Billings-based investigators to handle those types of cases, but Knudsen said more resources are needed to handle investigations across the state.

<\/p>\r\n\r\nLaw enforcement officials, including local detectives and Montana Highway Patrol members, also discussed the need for better technology to help track predators who recruit and groom young people online, a tactic that can allow exploitation to progress without the awareness of parents and guardians.

<\/p>\r\n\r\nAttendees, including representatives of The LifeGuard Group<\/a> and the Missoula County Human Trafficking Task Force<\/a>, widely agreed about the necessity of increasing community awareness and public education about the signs of trafficking, as well as what intervention resources are available.

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Montana\u2019s Indian Country is in the midst of an epidemic of missing and murdered indigenous people, mostly women and girls.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

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<\/p>\r\nLowell Hochhalter, founder of the LifeGuard Group, said he\u2019s seen promising use of the Montana Human Trafficking Hotline, which registered 87 contacts by text, phone and online chat in 2021.

<\/p>\r\n\r\nHochhalter said the hotline, launched in 2020 with a $26,000 grant from The Gianforte Family Foundation, can be critically useful when the national human trafficking hotline is overburdened. He cited the local hotline as another tool that could be made more effective with reliable state funding.

<\/p>\r\n\r\nWhile human trafficking is often linked with the elevated rates of missing Indigenous people, no representatives of tribal nations were present at the Tuesday roundtable. Knudsen later said that his agency is actively working with tribal members to address missing persons cases through the MMIP Task Force<\/a> and a grant program<\/a> that helps tribal nations develop systems to report and track people who go missing.

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Eliminating human trafficking in Montana requires action from all of us. To be part of the solution, learn to identify signs of human trafficking at https:\/\/t.co\/hvZ9gZJk0h. If you need help or suspect human trafficking activity, call 833-406-STOP. #HumanTraffickingAwarenessDay<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

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<\/p>\r\nOne person at the roundtable meeting, Shantell Gaynor with the Missoula County Justice Department, brought up several points about the need to address human trafficking from economic and public health angles as well as from the law enforcement perspective.

<\/p>\r\n\r\nGaynor, reached later by phone, said she does not take the governor and attorney general\u2019s attention to the issue for granted. But she stressed the importance of seeking upstream solutions to help protect vulnerable individuals and communities from exploitation in the first place \u2014 including affordable housing, better wage opportunities and education.

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