DAUPHIN COUNTY, Pa. — Pennsylvania is a hub for human trafficking. In fact, state officials say the Commonwealth is ranked in the top ten human trafficking states in the nation.
Much of the unseen work takes multiple teams to combat the problem.
"Unifying our voices to stop human trafficking maximizes our individual efforts," Commonwealth Advocate Suzanne Estrella said at a Thursday briefing.
Five state agencies discussed their efforts, including PennDOT, the Department of Labor and Industry, the Department of Health, Pennsylvania State Police, and the Office of Victim Advocate.
Estrella believes an increase in state funding will help the agency bring more light to the issue.
"We're going to be continuing our awareness campaign, and revamping into more prevention," Estrella said.
Advocates claim that documented cases don't accurately reflect the truth about trafficking in Pennsylvania.
Estrella says highlighting the issue empowers more people to speak up.
"When we let people know about resources in their community, that there are so many ways that you can seek assistance and get help. We'll start to see that stigma about not coming forward... we will see that less."
The discussion also focused on just how prevalent the issue is in Pennsylvania.
"Since 2007, the hotline has received over 7,760 phone, text, and online reports in Pennsylvania," PennDOT Secretary Yassmin Gramian said. "In that same time, more than 1,900 cases of human trafficking involving more than 4,000 victims were identified."
Members from multiple agencies laid out practical measures, such as specialized training to spot signs of trafficking and how to prevent it altogether.
According to the various department officials, collaboration is necessary and no agency alone can eliminate trafficking in Pa.
"Unifying our voices to stop human trafficking, maximizes our individual efforts," Estrella said.