CATA, LPD address human trafficking

By Chloe Gregg
Editor in Chief

CATA and the Lansing Police Department have joined forces to increase safety measures for the Greater Lansing area and combat human trafficking with their new “See Something, Say Something” campaign.

According to the agencies, Michigan ranks in to the top 10 of all states for worst cases of human trafficking, with nearly 300 cases reported in 2021.

The National Human Trafficking Hotline states: “Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery. This crime occurs when a trafficker uses force, fraud or coercion to control another person for the purpose of engaging in commercial sex acts, or soliciting labor or services against his/her will.”

Ashten Tucker, the assistant marketing manager for CATA, said community safety has always been a main priority for CATA.

“Now, thanks to a federal grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, CATA has partnered with the Lansing Police Department to combat human trafficking,” Tucker said. “The goal of the campaign is to raise awareness about the growing prevalence of human trafficking in the region, and to provide information that can help prevent it.

“Together, improving community safety and preventing the exploitation of the region’s most vulnerable citizens is a critical goal for all program partners.”

According to Rodney Anderson, the captain of the Lansing Police Department, the LPD and CATA are promoting the release of “CATA ELERTS,” which provide a mobile reporting platform to millions of users.

“CATA ELERTS is a Massachusetts-based software company that provides a mobile-reporting platform for airports, mass transit, cities and other organizations,” Anderson said. “The company was founded in 2010 on the belief that while ‘See Something, Say Something’ is easy to understand, it is not so easy to report a concern.

“ELERTS delivers a communication platform that lets operations centers receive and respond to incident reports in a timely and efficient manner. By deploying mobile technology that enables crowd-sourced incident reporting, ELERTS is putting safety and security in the hands of smartphone users everywhere.”

Sam Quon, applications manager for information technology for the City of Lansing and adjunct faculty at LCC in geospatial science, said the app uses geospatial science to determine where traffickers might be.

“Geospatial science allows us to use data such as assets, transportation and demographic data to understand people, places and systems,” Quon said. “This technology allows us to map and analyze the data to provide additional insight, thus allowing decision makers to make better decisions.

“The technology can assist in predicting where traffickers and victims are, based on space and time.”

Anyone can download CATA ELERTS on Apple or Android smartphones to do their part in keeping the community safe. Users are urged to report disruptive persons, assaults, harassment, drug or alcohol abuse, vulnerable persons, safety hazards, human trafficking, or a crime in progress.

For more information on this campaign and to download the app, visit the website here. The hotline for human trafficking is 1-888- 373-7888 for calls and 233733 for texts.