A two-day conference in Richland County centers on teaching techniques to battle one of the area’s most devastating crimes. 

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice, the Office of Justice Programs and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Programs, the workshop will provide participants with the knowledge and resources to identify, respond to and prevent human trafficking, specifically children victimized through sex trafficking.

“The epidemic of human trafficking knows no bounds,” said Vicki Jackson, coordinator for the Richland County Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force (RACHT). “It targets women, children and men of all ages and it is happening in our own backyard.”

Human trafficking crimes have been documented in Richland County over the past few years, prompting Richland County Councilmembers Jim Manning, District 8, and Julie-Ann Dixon, District 9, to help form the Richland County Human Traffic Coalition in January 2015. The coalition’s goal is to have no person in Richland County become a human trafficking victim.

“It’s important for residents to understand that this is a real and actual threat in our communities,” Manning said. “Human trafficking is happening in Richland County, and through the combined efforts of our communities, our schools and our law enforcement, we can put an end to it and protect our children.”

Jackson said more than 100 professionals from around the state will attend the conference, with the majority comprised of law enforcement investigators, social workers, human trafficking task force members and prosecutors who work every day to help victims and put an end to the cyclical crime.

The conference, which is provided through a partnership between RACHT, Amber Alert and Lighthouse for Life, is Oct. 17-18 at First Baptist Church of Lexington, 415 Barr Road, Lexington. Two officers from the Child Exploitation Squad of the Dallas Police Department and a Human Exploitation and Trafficking Watch Coordinator from the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office will lead the conference and cover topics such as “Quantifying the Problem Locally,” “Interviewing Techniques for Recovered Victims” and “Community Response and Implementation.”