ARLINGTON, Texas - With a little more than a month to go before Super Bowl 45 in Arlington, local law enforcement agencies and business owners are preparing for the thousands of fans who will descend on North Texas.
The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission held a training session at Cowboys Stadium on Tuesday covering the prevention, deterrence and detection of alcohol violations.
“Any time we can be proactive and get on the front end of something it’s a whole lot better than being reactive and trying to clean up on the back end. And so we’re trying to be real proactive here both with our law enforcement community as well as our retailers,” said TABC’s Charlie Cloud.
But the TABC is focused on more than just booze.
Human trafficking is high on the agency's radar. While many people think of the sex trade when human trafficking is mentioned, the bulk of the crime is labor-related. Unsuspecting people, often foreigners, come to the United States legally on a work visa or similar arrangement. Once stateside, they are forced into what amounts to indentured servitude. (See video above)
"It's modern day slavery," said advocate Bill Bernstein.
He's one of a handful of those immersed in trying to stem the rising tide of human trafficking. At Dallas' Mosaic Family Services, Bernstein and others have counseled more than 150 victims.
"Often, they don't see themselves as victims because they made the decision to enter into this arrangement," Bernstein notes.
But few realize that they have rights that protect them against forced work.
Spotting human trafficking is notoriously difficult. Relatively few of the people being forced into abusive work conditions are completely isolated. They walk among North Texans at grocery stores and in shopping malls. Psychologically, though, they are hostage. Along with law enforcement agencies local, state, and federal, Bernstein is part of a statewide task force hoping to crack down on human trafficking - especially at high profile events such as the Super Bowl.
The TABC session is one of several scheduled leading up to the big game on Feb. 6 and continues Wednesday.
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