Milford and Orange provide many opportunities for visitors to enjoy shopping, good food and entertainment. We are also blessed to have beautiful parks and beaches.
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However, because of our geographic location, perfectly situated along the I95 corridor between Boston and New York, we have had to fight against some instances of unlawful events that take place in our communities—human trafficking, particularly of minors, is one example.
Many federal trafficking cases involve hotels and motels along Interstate 95 and last year the Department of Children and Families received 132 tips of trafficking of minors in Connecticut.
This past session the General Assembly stepped up and passed a new law to address human trafficking. Public Act 16-71 is the first of its kind and gives law enforcement more tools to go after those hotel and motel owners/managers where victims of human trafficking (mostly minors) are often found.
Starting in October, all hotel staff in Connecticut will be required to receive mandatory training on how to identify victims and activities linked to human trafficking. This training will provide staff with tools to deter traffickers from using their location as well as steps they can take to connect victims to resources. It requires that hotels keep track of all guest transactions for six months—discouraging the “hourly” rental rate. They will also be required to post notices about human trafficking with help lines.
Connecticut did not recognize human trafficking as a felony until 2006 and prior to the passage of this law; prosecutors used the criminal charge of prostitution to combat human trafficking.
Public Act 16-71 adds mandatory penalties for trafficking-related crimes—patronizing a prostitute being trafficked carries a $2,000 mandatory fine for convicted “johns”, and there is an automatic $2,000 fine for those who take advantage of a trafficked victim in a motor vehicle.