TAT provides free human trafficking resources/training to create bystander intervention and reduce demand.
WinCo Driver Saves Trafficking Victim After TAT Training
WinCo Foods began rolling out TAT training in 2022. Later that year, after seeing a woman with a shaved head, clad only in a towel, standing along a remote stretch of mountainous highway, Joe Aguayo, a WinCo Foods driver, made a call alerting police. His call resulted in the recovery of a trafficking victim. Law enforcement reported this to be the second Indigenous human trafficking victim found naked in this area, and they believe the remote location, coupled with limited access to cell service, has made the area a dumping ground for perpetrators. The trooper told Aguayo that he likely saved the woman’s life.
TAT’s Mission and Growth Since 2009
In 2009, recognizing truckers as the eyes and ears of America’s highways, TAT began as a 501c3 organization with a mission to educate, equip, empower and mobilize members of the trucking industry to fight human trafficking as part of their daily jobs. Its mission has grown in the past 16 years to include concentrated work with the bus and energy industries as well, and with law enforcement and multiple government organizations and agencies who work with transportation. TAT has also scaled across borders into Canada and Mexico.
How Traffickers Operate and Why Intervention Matters
Traffickers are adept at preying upon vulnerabilities; they seek out victims likely to be desperate and susceptible to manipulation, threats and abuse, while simultaneously being forgotten, ignored or blamed for their circumstances by society-at-large. They rely on people not paying attention or knowing what to do if they see a trafficking situation, while victims often depend on those same people to notice something is wrong and act upon their suspicions.
TAT’s Resources and Training Approach
To disrupt trafficker presumptions, TAT provides free, niche-specific, anti-trafficking resources and training for the members of the industries, agencies and organizations it serves to create a model of bystander intervention and build the largest mobile army of transportation professionals possible, dedicated to discovering and disrupting human trafficking networks.
TAT Tools for the Trucking Industry
Within the trucking industry alone, TAT provides specific resources for OTR drivers, local drivers, in-home delivery professionals and movers, and works to see its training integrated into the fabric of operations in the companies, organizations and agencies with which it partners. Resources include videos, wallet cards (English, Spanish, French-Canadian) with red flags to watch for, an app for both iPhones and Androids (download it here for Android users and here for iOS users), side-window decals, testing and certification and toolkits.
Addressing Demand: The Man-to-Man Campaign
Through its Man-to-Man Campaign, TAT works on prevention efforts by educating members of male-dominated industries on how demand for commercial sex fuels the crime of sex trafficking. Demand-reduction resources include a video, wallet card, webinars and samples of anti-trafficking-in-person policies with demand-reduction focus companies can use and adopt.
Get Involved
Access all of TAT’s free materials here or email info@tatnonprofit.org.
Interested in hosting a live training or presentation? Contact the team at info@tatnonprofit.org to schedule a speaker.
Together, we can turn awareness into action—and stop human trafficking in its tracks.
About the Author:
Lyn Leeburg is the Communications Director and Co-Founder of Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT). With over 40 years of experience in public relations, Lyn has dedicated her career to advocacy, storytelling, and awareness-building. She helped launch TAT in 2009 alongside her four daughters and a friend, and her work has earned awards at the state, regional, and national levels.