Next week, hotel and motel employees in Cedar Rapids Iowa will undergo training in how to spot victims of sexual exploitation. It’s part of a new, statewide effort to combat human trafficking in Iowa hotels and motels. George Belitsos of the Iowa Network Against Human Trafficking and Slavery says commercial sexual exploitation is now a bigger business than the drug trade.
Steven Patrick O’Meara, the former leader of the Nebraska Human Trafficking Task Force, is now president of an Omaha-based coalition that has trained employees in more than 100 Omaha hotels to be on the look-out for victims of sex trafficking. He’s now conducting similar seminars in Iowa.
O’Meara has appointments with groups in the Quad Cities, Dubuque, Council Bluffs and Sioux City to discuss how to teach hotel and motel employees about the warning signs of human trafficking.
