By RAYN HOLMES
U.S. Attorney Office, Northern District of Indiana

HAMMOND – United States Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana, David Capp, announced today, Sept. 17, the office hosted a symposium for law enforcement, prosecutors, schools, department of child services and others to educate officials about the signs of human trafficking and how to combat it.

“The Northern District of Indiana is fully engaged with our federal, state and local law enforcement partners along with governmental and non-governmental organizations in preventing, fighting and aggressively prosecuting all forms of human trafficking,” said Capp.

Human trafficking is the recruitment, harboring, transportation or procurement of a person for labor or services that are involuntary servitude, slavery or forced commercial sex acts. The Department of Justice and our office have made a commitment to combat these horrific crimes by aggressively bringing traffickers to justice and providing assistance to victims.

The training today was a result of a combined effort between the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Northern Indiana. The training provided the 100 plus registered attendees with the tools needed to identify, investigate and prosecute all forms of human trafficking.

If you have any information on possible human trafficking, contact either the Polaris Project National Human Trafficking Hotline at (888) 373-7888 or the Department of Homeland Security Tip line at (866) DHS-2-ICE.