In August 2019, the Institute’s Director of Victim Services Marie Martinez Israelite and (now former) Director of Law Enforcement Operations Dave Rogers participated in a round table discussion hosted by the Police Executive Research Forum at the Newseum in Washington, DC. They discussed trauma-informed approaches to working with victims of trafficking and best practices for training law enforcement to properly identify trafficking. The conference report, “How Local Police Can Combat the Global Problem of Human Trafficking: Collaboration, Training, Support for Victims, and Technology Are Keys to Success,” was published in August 2020 and cites both Martinez Israelite and Rogers.

“The only point of training is to change behavior. And if you want to change behavior, you can’t have just one siloed group doing the training, and then another group doing something else. You need to bring them all together,” said Rogers.

Martinez Israelite emphasized survivor needs, saying, “When you give primacy to the needs of survivors as they identify their needs, and you prioritize their safety and security, that helps to reduce the chances of re-victimization in the course of the criminal justice process.”

Read other insights from Martinez Israelite and Rogers in the full report here.