Maryland State Wire

Gov. Larry Hogan has announced a series of initiatives to combat human trafficking throughout the state.

Hogan wants additional support for victims of human trafficking, as well as strategies for pursuing harsher punishments for human traffickers.

The executive director of the Governor's Office of Crime Control and Prevention (GOCCP), Glenn Fueston, joined the governor, along with several other organizations, when Hogan made the announcement.

Gov. Larry Hogan wants to provide resources to survivors of human trafficking. | File photo

Fueston said that Hogan had made it clear that human trafficking had no place in the state.

"Stopping human trafficking requires a unified approach that shows perpetrators we are watching them while letting their victims know that we are here to assist them. This takes all of us working together," Fueston said in a statement provided to Maryland State Wire.

Hogan said at the event that he was committed to ensuring perpetrators would be brought to justice, but that he also wanted to provide resources to survivors.

"One of our most important responsibilities is to protect Maryland citizens, and human trafficking strikes at the very fiber of our Maryland communities, our families, and our children," Hogan said in a news release.

Hogan's executive order included the creation of a position for an Anti-Human Trafficking director; the creation of Maryland Crime Research and Innovation Center at the University of Maryland; better data collection; updated protocol for identification; $5 million in funding; and legislation that would make human trafficking a violent crime.

The $5 million in funding will go toward services like an emergency shelter, a talk-line, therapy, job training, life skills training, vocational training and other courses and programs.

Hogan also announced more than $4 million that will go to the Maryland Criminal Intelligence Network for public safety strategies.

Hogan said in a news release that it was critical to aggressively pursue human traffickers, but to also not forget the victims. 

"This type of crime shatters a person’s sense of security," Hogan said in the news release. "Much too often it can leave wounds that are often unseen and which sometimes never truly or fully heal. In Maryland, we have worked hard to create a system of justice which restores victims and strengthens communities, a system that empowers victims, gives them the resources they need to become safe, self-sufficient, and better informed, and works to break the cycle of criminal victimization."