Human trafficking victims will have better access to resources to help them get back on their feet.
Bridging Resources and Information Gaps in Human Trafficking, or BRIGHT Network, aims to streamline the process of connecting human trafficking victims with vital services to help recover and stabilize their lives. Those services include housing, health care, transportation, legal aid and other social services.
Shelly Wagers is the director of BRIGHT. She spoke at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg campus on Thursday for the launch of the new platform.
"With human trafficking victims,鈥� Wagers said, 鈥渋f they're in that crisis mode, and they reach out, they'll reach out once, and if they don't get something typically, they're kind of lost."
Currently, Wagers said, those who help victims rely on their 鈥減ersonal Rolodex鈥� and calling each service can be time consuming. The BRIGHT Network provides a centralized database of services vetted by survivors and practitioners in the field.
Victims will be kept anonymous too by limiting the amount of personal identifying information the system collects. For example, the platform asks only for the first two letters of the first and last name.
"This is going to really help centralize our whole resource directory in the state of Florida,鈥� said Tomas Lares, founder of United Abolitionists to Stop Human Trafficking. 鈥淭his is something that we've just desperately needed."
Law enforcement and social service workers will be able to access the platform for free. The BRIGHT Network will also collect search data. That will help determine where people are searching for resources and identify gaps, said Wagers.
The reason why it鈥檚 taken so long to create a platform like this, said Wagers, is because it鈥檚 not profitable for most companies to develop this technology. She added that it鈥檚 been difficult to find a single agency to house sensitive data.
The platform was developed by USF researchers as part of its Trafficking in Persons - Risk to Resilience Lab, or . In 2023, the TiP Lab was for data related to human trafficking as part of a law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Read more: Miami-Dade model for combating human trafficking, state attorney says
Florida is in the number of human trafficking cases in the United States, according to calls made to the human trafficking crisis hotline.
According to Bloom Tampa Bay, there were of human trafficking in the Tampa Bay area in 2021. According to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, there were human trafficking cases in the state in 2021.
Lares said this is due to Florida鈥檚 population boom and tourism. According to the United States Census Bureau, Florida鈥檚 population grew by and .
鈥淭he sporting fans and those coming for entertainment, the majority of them are good people,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 always a few bad apples that are looking for nefarious things to do.
Most services currently in the system are based in the Tampa Bay area. However, the program will expand statewide as more organizations are added, said Wagers.
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