Human trafficking is a multi-billion dollar crime that abuses and functionally imprisons more than 24 million people. Trafficking is often mentioned in the news, but there are many facts that most people don’t know or get flat-out wrong. For example, experts believe there are more cases of labor trafficking than sex trafficking, with cases reported and prosecuted in industries like cleaning services, construction, manufacturing, and restaurants and food service, among others. More adults than minors are victims of trafficking. In addition to being lured from overseas or across state lines, survivors report being trafficked in their hometowns.

Taken together, this means that people are likely being trafficked in plain sight. Law enforcement officials are enlisting the eyes and ears of community members to help spot cases. Teachers, medical personnel, restaurant employees, truck drivers, and public transportation drivers all regularly contact wide swaths of their communities and can help identify and report possible cases of trafficking. Unsurprisingly, the US Department of Transportation has asked transit agencies to make human trafficking awareness

 

The Role of Public Transportation Drivers

Most bus drivers’ job descriptions do not include spotting and reporting potential cases of human trafficking. But because they interact with so many people every day in all corners of the community, they are almost ideally situated to help victims of trafficking. In 2021, at least 19 percent of signals (in the form of calls, texts, online chat, or tips) to the National Human Trafficking Hotline came from community members, including transit workers

Public Transportation professionals such as bus drivers have always been trained in the technical skills required to maneuver an enormous vehicle safely and defensively. Increasingly, learning how to interact and communicate with many passengers has become just as important as driving the bus. Bus drivers often face surprising, uncomfortable, chaotic, or potentially dangerous situations. They must handle these scenarios with a cool head while operating their equipment. Passenger-interaction training programs have yielded promising results, addressing drivers’ stress and helping them learn how to defuse dangerous situations.

Adding human trafficking awareness to such interaction/situational awareness training programs is a small step with the potential for significant results.

 

FAAC: Leading the Way with Operator Response Training

FAAC’s Transit Response Situational Simulator is at the forefront of public transit situational and crisis interaction training initiatives. Simulation training allows transit Operators to practice de-escalation, emergency response procedures, and passenger interactions—all in a safe, realistic, simulated environment. Using Transit Response, drivers learn how to deal with all sorts of unexpected scenarios, including aggressive passengers, riders under the influence of drugs or alcohol, passengers perpetrating unwanted sexual advances, and medical emergencies, to name a few.

Operators could also learn to spot riders traveling under duress using a simulated training program like Transit Response. FAAC Transportation Business Manager Jason Francisco notes that new possibilities for Transit Response training are still emerging and have already shown potential for powerful effects.

“We’re still learning what the project can and should do,” Jason says. “We’re eager to partner with transit agencies that want to expand their skills training and give their drivers tools that could save lives. We regularly work with transit agencies to create custom content and scenarios specific to their needs. In this area, just a few extra minutes of training and awareness could be pivotal to someone’s life.”

 

Implement Transit Response in Your Driver Training Program

Transit Response can be added to FAAC’s MB 2000 Bus Simulator or Paratransit Simulator. It includes an entire library of typical emergency, de-escalation, and customer service situations, with new scenarios added as they are created. Transit agencies can also opt to have FAAC’s production team create custom interactive training scenarios. Our experts script scenarios in collaboration with your agency and then film them on-site at your transit agency using your fleet.

 

FAAC is Here to Offer Answers and Support

To begin the path to comprehensive bus driver training, call us today. Our professionals will answer your questions and work with you to create the most realistic and immersive training simulator possible.

If you suspect a case of human trafficking, call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at (888) 373-7888. In case of immediate danger, call 911.