Pillen spotlights human trafficking concerns in first proclamation as Nebraska … – Lincoln Journal Star

In one of his first news conferences as the state's governor, Jim Pillen on Tuesday proclaimed January as Human Trafficking Awareness Month in Nebraska, where officials say prosecutions for the crime have soared in recent years.

“(It's) my first day of signing proclamations, and when I think about being the father of two daughters and the grandfather of three baby granddaughters, and I think of the evilness of this, it just pierces my heart deeply,” Pillen said before signing the proclamation at the Capitol.

Tuesday's proclamation marks the latest state effort to raise awareness about the crime, which is not prevalent in Nebraska but has increasingly become a focal point for state lawmakers and criminal investigators.

From 2007 to 2015, when the Nebraska Human Trafficking Task Force was created, prosecutors in the state filed charges in just four trafficking cases across the nine-year span, according to task force data.

In the seven years since the task force was formed, there have been 88 prosecutions of alleged traffickers in Nebraska after reports of trafficking were fielded in at least 40 different jurisdictions.

And there were more felony convictions tied to trafficking cases in 2022 than any year on record in the state, according to the task force.

Attorney General Mike Hilgers, who appeared alongside Pillen at Tuesday's news conference with Nebraska State Patrol Col. John Bolduc and several members of the task force, credited the increase in prosecutions in part to the state's ongoing awareness campaign.

Hilgers said the state trained 2,700 people last year on how to spot signs of human trafficking, including law enforcement officers, medical professionals and nonprofit workers.

And the State Patrol in October launched a human trafficking hotline, specifically designed for the public to report suspected sex or labor trafficking around the clock.

“Unfortunately, human trafficking happens right here in Nebraska,” Hilgers said. “And so raising awareness — both for law enforcement, of course, but for citizens to understand — the scourge of human trafficking and understanding the signs that exist to be able to spot human trafficking around the state is very important.”

Bolduc, who has led the State Patrol since 2017, said the agency's hotline has received an average of 12 calls per month since it was unveiled. Before the hotline debuted, he said, the patrol received around three trafficking tips per month.

Still, it's unclear if instances of human trafficking have actually increased in Nebraska or if the increase in awareness has manufactured an influx of reports, said Glen Parks, the task force's coordinator.

“We don't really have a baseline,” he said. “There isn't a lot of evidence out there about how much trafficking existed when we started and exists now.

“I usually punt on the question of whether it's getting worse. We are getting better at uncovering it. And that's what I'm really excited about and that's our task as a task force.”

A viral Twitter thread about one woman's experience of sex trafficking during a 2015 trip to Florida has been turned into a movie, “Zola.”