HART Awarded Grant to Combat Human Trafficking

An example of FTA's human trafficking awareness campaign

HART is pleased to announce the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has awarded HART with a Human Trafficking Awareness & Public Safety Initiative Grant totaling $100,240. The grant will be used to conduct a public awareness campaign about human trafficking leading up to Super Bowl LV being held in Tampa in 2021.

The public awareness campaign will include educational materials for the public and provide critical training for HART employees in recognizing and reporting human trafficking.

"Human trafficking is an unfortunate reality of society today," said Carolyn House Stewart, Interim HART CEO. "HART looks forward to utilizing this grant to train our employees, many of whom interact with hundreds of people daily, to help recognize the signs of human trafficking and create more awareness about the issue."

Human trafficking is modern-day slavery, affecting millions of adults and children in the United States and worldwide. Traffickers move their victims on all modes of transportation, and sometimes use public transit due to its low cost, greater anonymity in buying fare cards, and less direct interaction with government or transit officials.

In total, $5.4 million in grants were selected as part of FTA's Human Trafficking Awareness and Public Safety Initiative.

HART and State Legislators Partner on Proposed Changes to Protect Transit Employees

Safety barriers like this would be required on all transit vehicles throughout the State of Florida

HART is leading a statewide initiative to implement new legislation addressing the growing trend of violence transit employees and other uniformed public servants face in Florida. HART is proud to partner with State Senator Keith Perry (R-Gainesville) and State Representative Michael Beltran (R-Tampa) who just filed the "Uniformed Public Servant Protection Act" for the 2020 session. SB 1416 and HB 951 both seek to curb violent threats against uniformed public servants in the workplace.

Sen. Perry and Rep. Beltran are spearheading the legislation which would require all Florida transit agencies and the State itself to make specific changes to enhance public safety and further protect uniformed public servants.

"As Chair of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, I felt compelled to address the recent acts of violence and threats of violence against uniformed public servants," said Sen. Perry. "By increasing the penalty for assault against transit workers and other public servants, as well comprehensive training and protective barriers on public transport, we are demonstrating our commitment to public safety throughout our state."

HART is leading the way by implementing three of these changes and advocating for a fourth to protect transit employees. The leadership of Rep. Beltran and Sen. Perry to make all of these changes uniform across our state takes this public safety movement to a new level. The legislation proposes four changes:

• require the installation of protective barriers on public transit;
• require the posting of the maximum penalty for assaulting a transit worker;
• require mandatory training for drivers to defuse and de-escalate potentially violent situations; 
• increase the current enhancement for assault against a uniformed public servant (transit workers, law enforcement and other first responders) from a 1st-degree misdemeanor to a 3rd-degree felony.

"Over the past seven months, one HART bus driver in Tampa has been murdered and another violently attacked, while operating public transit buses," said Rep. Beltran who is also a key member of the Hillsborough County delegation. "I filed this legislation in an effort to help keep people safe through tougher penalties for threats of violence, protective barriers for drivers, and increased training to help defuse potential threats."

The proposed legislation mirrors the Amalgamated Transit Union's (ATU) push for similar changes on the national level with HR 1139.