Montana is facing a serious issue. According to a report from the Montana Department of Justice the number of human trafficking cases in Montana are drastically increasing.
Brittney Higgs, a cofounder of the Her Campaign, a Montana based nonprofit that works to address human trafficking speaks on the increase in human trafficking cases in Montana.
“We are seeing a huge increase in the numbers of identified cases of human trafficking in the state of Montana. What that is telling us is that we actually are getting much better as a state in identifying these victims and seeing that human trafficking actually is a problem in our state. It doesn’t mean necessarily that all of a sudden in the last seven years there’s been a drastic increase in the number of cases it’s just we’re becoming more aware of it.” -Brittney Higgs
She continues to explain the importance of a multi-agency approach to eliminating human trafficking.
“We need to come together from a government standpoint, from a law enforcement standpoint, from other agencies and organizations, non-profit entities to all come to the table and really say, ok here is a multifaceted issue that is affecting our communities on a deep level. How are we going to come alongside each other to do this? What I love about Attorney General Knudsen is what he’s done. He’s gotten all those voices to the table multiple times and just had those conversations.”– Brittney Higgs
Brittney then explains the biggest improvements that came from the meetings with the Attorney General.
“Well, I think first of all clarity of who is doing what in the state and how we can instead of trying to create something that is already being done, we can just all stay in our lanes and focus on doing what we do really well. I think that’s a big thing that came from the symposiums with the Attorney General.”-Brittney Higgs
