Task Force Calls For Local Human Trafficking Resolutions

humantrafficking-4
humantrafficking-4

The Southwest Michigan Human Trafficking Task Force is hoping to see communities around Berrien, Cass, and Van Buren counties take a page from South Bend and approve their own anti-human trafficking resolutions. Task Force founder Cathy Knauf tells WSJM News the South Bend City Council recently approved a resolution stating its opposition to the crime and warning residents about it. She asks why not communities here in southwest Michigan?

“I would love to put the challenge out there to cities and townships — and especially in Berrien, Van Buren, and Cass counties, where we represent those areas — to step up and propose some resolution to state that they are against human trafficking,”

Knauf says each local government could tailor such a resolution to its own community’s character, focusing on agriculture, trucking, or other factors. She says she’d be willing to work with local governments who consider such action. Knauf thinks human traffickers would be less attracted to areas where they know the local government has spoken up against the crime.