LABOR TRAFFICKING

Labor trafficking is a crime that involves compelling or coercing a person to provide labor or services and affects persons of all ages, races, genders, and nationalities. Labor traffickers often prey on those with vulnerable life circumstances and economic hardships. Labor trafficking victims can be found in legal and illegal labor industries, as well as hidden behind closed doors and in plain view.

PARTNERSHIPS TO ADDRESS LABOR TRAFFICKING TOOLKIT

The resources in this toolkit assist law enforcement, businesses, communities, and other stakeholders in identifying, responding to, and addressing labor trafficking, as well as in supporting its victims and survivors. Click on the audience category to find relevant resources.

Law Enforcement

  • Executive/Commanders
  • Investigators
  • Patrol
  • Dispatchers
  • Victim Advocators

Prosecutors

  • District Attorneys
  • State Prosecutors
  • U.S. Attorneys

Businesses

  • Food/Beverage
  • Home Services
  • Hospitality
  • Schools
  • Transportation and Delivery Drivers

Community

  • Faith-based
  • Nonprofit Groups
  • State Inspectors
  • Victim Services
  • General Public
 

Other Resources

 

Subject-Matter Expert Bios

 
 

Detective Megan Zentner
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Detective Megan Zentner
Detective Megan Zentner is assigned to the Seattle, Washington, Police Department’s Criminal Intelligence Unit. She is a task force officer with Homeland Security Investigations, focused on labor trafficking of foreign nationals and other human trafficking-related crimes. Her position is grant-funded through the U.S. Department of Justice Enhanced Collaborative Model Grant. Detective Zentner is a Washington Advisory Committee on Trafficking (WashACT) core team member with extensive consultation and presentation experience on the subject.


Florrie Burke
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Florrie Burke
Ms. Florrie Burke is a consultant on human trafficking to governmental and nongovernmental agencies. With two decades of specialized experience, she is a leading expert on the victim-centered approach in human trafficking cases and collaborative efforts of criminal justice actors and victim care providers. Ms. Burke is a founder of Freedom Network USA and has done extensive training, speaking, and consultation on human trafficking issues, trauma, torture, gender violence, and exploitation, both in the United States and internationally. She serves as an expert witness on cases of human trafficking and has developed materials and trainings for global actors.


Evelyn Chumbow
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Evelyn Chumbow
Ms. Evelyn Chumbow is a survivor of domestic servitude. Since 2014, Ms. Chumbow has been an advocate with the Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking, and she was awarded the Presbyterian Peaceseeker Award for her efforts to combat human trafficking. She served as a presidential appointee to the U.S. Human Trafficking Survivor Advisory Council and has presented nationally on the needs of labor trafficking victims. Ms. Chumbow also serves as an ambassador for the Innovative Community Engagement Foundation’s Granting Courage Initiative, which assists survivors of human trafficking, and was the first recipient of its annual scholarship.


Terry Coonan
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Terry Coonan
Mr. Terry Coonan is a professor of law and criminology at Florida State University (FSU) and the founding executive director of FSU’s Center for the Advancement of Human Rights, which has done leading work nationwide on human trafficking issues. As an attorney, he litigates pro bono cases on behalf of trafficking victims throughout Florida. Mr. Coonan has been a consultant on human trafficking issues with the U.S. Department of Justice, law enforcement officials, and service providers nationwide. Since 2011, he has served as the designer and lead trainer on human trafficking for the National Judicial College, delivering trainings to more than 2,000 judges in 36 U.S. states.


Ambassador Luis C.deBaca
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Ambassador Luis C.deBaca
Ambassador Luis C.deBaca is a former diplomat and prosecutor. He served at the U.S. State Department as Ambassador at Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons and also served as the previous Director of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Sex Offender Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART). Previously, as a federal prosecutor in the Civil Rights Division, Ambassador C.deBaca led investigations and prosecutions of dozens of forced labor and sex trafficking cases involving hundreds of victims, as well as guided policy efforts that led to the development of the modern “victim-centered approach,” victim protections such as the T visa, the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act, and the United Nations’ anti-trafficking protocol.

 

Project Team Bios

 
 

Carolyn Binder
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Carolyn Binder
Ms. Carolyn Binder is a senior manager with the Institute for Intergovernmental Research (IIR). As senior manager of the Criminal Justice Initiatives team, Ms. Binder serves as the lead for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) Partnerships to Address Labor Trafficking initiative. Ms. Binder leads the team providing infrastructure support to the National Public Safety Partnership (PSP), which provides an innovative framework for DOJ to enhance its support of state, local, and tribal law enforcement and prosecution authorities. She also leads the team that works with the Major Cities Chiefs Association in support of its Violent Crime Reduction Operations Guide and the COPS Office Navigating Change and Keys to Successful Implementation Strategies project.


Joseph McHale
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Joseph McHale
Mr. Joseph McHale is a senior manager with the Institute for Intergovernmental Research (IIR). In this capacity, he serves as the principal law enforcement advisor to the Criminal Justice Initiatives team. His responsibilities include strategic planning, training and technical assistance development and delivery, and field-centric research and planning. Mr. McHale supports the National Public Safety Partnership (PSP), the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) Partnerships to Address Labor Trafficking initiative, and the COPS Office Navigating Change and Keys to Successful Implementation Strategies project. Mr. McHale retired from the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department (KCPD) in 2016 at the rank of major. Upon retirement from the KCPD, he served as the Chief of Police for the Marion, Iowa, Police Department (2016 to 2019), one of the most progressive law enforcement agencies in the state of Iowa.


Amanda Armetta
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Amanda Armetta
Ms. Amanda Armetta is a senior program specialist with the Institute for Intergovernmental Research (IIR), where she is a member of IIR’s Criminal Justice Initiatives team. Ms. Armetta supports the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) Partnerships to Address Labor Trafficking initiative. She assists with project management, material development, and program reporting. In addition, Ms. Armetta assists the Major Cities Chiefs Association, the U.S. Department of Justice National Public Safety Partnership (PSP), the Center for Task Force Training (CenTF) Program, and the COPS Office Navigating Change and Keys to Successful Implementation Strategies project.


Adam Cambria
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Adam Cambria
Mr. Adam Cambria is a senior program specialist with the Institute for Intergovernmental Research (IIR), where he supports the Criminal Justice Initiatives team. Mr. Cambria supports the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) Partnerships to Address Labor Trafficking initiative. Along with the project team, he is responsible for developing an online toolkit of labor trafficking resources to share with law enforcement and the business community. In addition to his work with the COPS Office, Mr. Cambria also provides support to the U.S. Department of Justice National Public Safety Partnership (PSP) and the Center for Task Force Training (CenTF) Program.


Cherisse Hudson
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Cherisse Hudson
Ms. Cherisse Hudson is a research associate with the Institute for Intergovernmental Research (IIR) and is assigned to the Criminal Justice Initiatives team. Ms. Hudson provides programmatic support, including research and environmental scanning of open source information, material development, and communications for the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) Partnerships to Address Labor Trafficking initiative. She also provides support to the U.S. Department of Justice National Public Safety Partnership (PSP) and the Center for Task Force Training (CenTF) Program.