Dozens of social workers and law enforcement personnel around Kansas recently completed training designed to further understanding of human trafficking, which is a modern form of human slavery.
Classes were held in Wichita, Topeka and Hays. Social workers from the Kansas Department for Children and Families and Kansas Highway Patrol officers gained new insights from nationally renowned expert Dottie Laster.
Toni Schuckman, Wichita regional assistant director for the Department For Children and Families, said "everyone walked out with something new and a broader understanding of the problem."
In recent years an investigation into organized crime in Houston, Texas revealed minors from Kansas were begin trafficked and forced into prostitution.
Criminal traffickers use fraud or coercion to control and exploit their victims by forcing them into prostitution, domestic servitude or forced labor.
The training emphasized identifying and working directly with human trafficking victims.