State ups its human-trafficking fight
The state is taking COLUMBUS — its fight against human trafficking to liquor-selling establishments by training undercover agents to spot potential victims during investigations.
Gov. John Kasich was joined by anti-trafficking advocates and public officials Monday to announce the Regional Human Trafficking Interdiction Working Groups, a division within the Ohio Investigative Unit.
“They’re not just dealing with after hours and bars,” Gov. Kasich said. “They’re dealing with flesh and blood and people.”
The new program within the Ohio Investigative Unit, a division of the State Highway Patrol, will train about 80 undercover Liquor Control Commission enforcement agents to spot potential trafficking victims in addition to their regular investigations. The program does not expand jurisdiction for the officers.
The undercover agents typically investigate liquor and tobacco violations as well as food stamp fraud. The intersection between trafficking and their roles as agents puts them in a unique position to spot potential victims, according to the administration.
“We know traffickers exploit people for all kinds of profit, and there have been cases in Ohio that involve food stamps,” said Elizabeth Ranade-Janis, an anti-trafficking coordinator with the Office of Criminal Justice Services. “So there really is this clear connection to be able to notice people who might be in trouble or potential victims of exploitation.”
The initiative is part of Kasich’s Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force, which was created in 2012 to help fight “modern-day slavery.” Agents will be trained to connect at-risk individuals and victims to social services through the collaborations already forged by the task force.
The program is meant to train agents to recognize people vulnerable to human trafficking, much in the same way a trafficker might be able to, said John Born, director of the Department of Public Safety.
“An investigative unit, at the right place, at the right time, can connect that person to social service agencies and responses to make sure we don’t have another crime and another victim,” Born said.
Since 2014, the Ohio Attorney General’s office has identified 384 potential trafficking victims and the Ohio Network of Children’s Advocacy Centers has identified 165 potential minor victims, according to state data.
“Developing a comprehensive approach that enlists all relevant state resources is key to the fight against human trafficking in Ohio,” Rep. Teresa Fedor, D-Toledo, said in a statement.
Among the private sector partners joining the effort is the Salvation Army of Central Ohio. Michelle Hannan, the anti-trafficking program director, said the organization coordinates the Central Ohio Rescue and Restore Coalition, which focuses on providing a community response to human trafficking.
In 2016, law enforcement agencies across the state investigated 135 human trafficking cases, according to the Attorney General’s office. That led to 79 arrests and 28 criminal convictions.
Ohio University ATHENS — administrators are proposing that the board of trustees approve an approximately $720 million operating budget for the 2017-18 academic year that includes unspecified cuts.
The trustees are scheduled to meet Thursday and Friday at the university’s Zanesville campus.
Factors including the anticipated imposition of a tuition freeze in the new two-year state budget and a decline in the number of freshmen enrolled for the fall semester on the Athens campus have contributed to the budget challenges, according to budget documents prepared for the trustees.
Among total expected undergraduate enrollment of 24,020 in Athens for fall semester, 4,109 are freshmen, 200 fewer than fall 2016. The university’s regional campuses expect 8,350 undergraduates in the fall, also a slight decline from the enrollment in fall 2016.
The budget documents the university has posted online do not spell out how the cuts will affect colleges and departments, or whether faculty and support staff jobs would be eliminated.
University officials will not provide additional information about the impact of the proposed cuts until the trustees meet, spokesman Jim Sabin said.
Each department was asked to develop plans to absorb a 5 percent cut. This amounted to $4.9 million in cuts. Plans for fiscal years 2019 and 2020 call for cutting another $2 million each year, according to budget documents.
The budget documents show no raises for most faculty and support staff in the 2017-18 academic year, although medical college faculty will be eligible for raises in a continuing effort to make up for a previous pay lag.
Administrators plan to draw $3.8 million from the university’s $31 million Strategic Opportunity Reserve to help offset the loss from declining enrollment and tuition “constraints,” according to budget documents. The reserve, funded by unbudgeted money, investment returns and other sources, serves as a rainy-day fund to be used when necessary.
The board of trustees has approved in-state tuition of $6,066 per semester (for 12 to 20 credit hours) for the 2017-18 academic year, according to budget documents, compared with $5,872 per semester (for 12 to 20 credit hours) in the 2016-17 academic year. The tuition the board approved is subject to change, however, the documents note, if the tuition freeze remains in the new state budget.