COLUMBUS, Ind. – The Columbus Human Rights Commission met Wednesday and heard a presentation by representatives of the South Central Indiana Coalition Against Trafficking.
Danielle White, regional coalition coordinator of the Indiana Trafficking Victims Assistance Program, and Leslie Bradley, coordinator for IUPUC’s Office for Women, said that Indiana has a high concentration of trafficking activity because of how it is situated geographically as the crossroads of America. Big events such as the Indianapolis 500 and the Kentucky Derby result in a spike in the activity.
Bartholomew County has had eight reported cases in the last two years. Two were for labor trafficking, two were for sex trafficking, and both types were involved four times.
2013 Fordham University data indicates that 36 percent of victims are trafficked by immediate family, 27 percent by an intimate partner, 14 percent by employers, and 9 percent by strangers.
