Template revised April 12, 2018.
COMMISSION
AGENDA MEMORANDUM
Item No.
8a
BRIEFING ITEM
Date of Meeting
July 24, 2018
DATE: June 26, 2018
TO: Stephen P. Metruck, Executive Director
FROM: Eric Schinfeld, Sr. Manager, Federal & International Government Relations
SUBJECT: Six-Month Progress Report on Port-wide Human Trafficking Strategy Implementation
ACTION REQUESTED
Request Commission extension of training and public awareness campaign deadlines for
completion of actions identified in the January 9 human trafficking motion (Motion 2018-01) to
December 31, 2018.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
On January 9, the Port of Seattle Commission passed a motion directing staff to finalize and
implement a Port-wide strategy to combat human trafficking. By taking that step, the
Commission has increased our organization’s leadership role on this important topic, for which
we not only have a moral obligation to protect residents and visitors but also a tangible role
because of our status as both a large employer and as the manager of significant trade and
travel facilities.
We have made substantial progress in all aspect of our strategy’s implementation – from the
creation of an internal policy to ensure our all employees understand our commitment to this
vital equity and social justice issue to trainings that have reached hundreds of Port employees.
Importantly, we have also developed some key partnerships with other regional public and
private sector leaders that will allow us to maximize our impact in reducing human trafficking in
our region.
While we could have completed most of the strategy tactics by now, we have decided instead
to take a slower approach to allow for more partner engagement. For example, the Port has
been ready since March to conduct our own public awareness campaign, but instead is waiting
on the City of Seattle, Sound Transit and King County to go through their internal process so
that we can do a regional collaboration on this effort instead. Similarly, we are engaging local
nonprofits to develop training curriculum and materials rather than doing it ourselves to ensure
widespread community engagement in this work. Given that change in strategy, staff is
requesting that the Commission extend the deadlines for the public awareness campaign and
staff training efforts until the end of the year.
DETAILS
Scope of Work
COMMISSION AGENDA – Briefing Item No. 8a Page 2 of 6
Meeting Date: July 24, 2018
Template revised September 22, 2016.
Template revised September 22, 2016.
In particular, the Port’s human trafficking strategy has four main focus areas:
1) Training – Ensuring that all employees have access to the proper training and education
to understand both what human trafficking is as well as its impacts on our communities.
2) Communications – Utilizing port facilities and communications channels to raise public
awareness of human trafficking, and provide information to stop trafficking taking place
at our facilities.
3) Partnerships – Leveraging relationships to reduce duplication and to maximize the
impact of our efforts, including collaborating with nonprofits; local, state and federal
agencies; and key customers and vendors.
4) Policies & Protocols – Ensuring that Port policies prohibit engagement in human
trafficking, and provide clear procedures for employees to follow to report suspicion of
human trafficking and violations of these policies.
Schedule
The Commission’s January motion lays out the following deadlines for implementation
• By March 31, 2018, staff shall finalize a comprehensive strategy and implement an initial
set of actions, including but not limited to:
o developing a curriculum and planning trainings for the most relevant Port
employees;
o joining key alliances and committees to ensure the Port’s engagement on this
topic regionally;
o conducting initial awareness raising through media and communications efforts to
users of the Port’s facilities and local residents; and
o advocating at the state and federal level for policy changes that further the Port’s
and region’s human trafficking reduction efforts.
• By June 30, 2018, staff shall implement substantial aspects of the Port’s comprehensive
anti-trafficking strategy, including but not limited to:
o developing a curriculum and planning for making training broadly available to all
Port employees;
o ensuring that Port policies and our Code of Conduct fully restricts employee
engagement in any aspect of trafficking;
o installing signage in Port facilities that helps increase awareness of this issue and
reduces trafficking in our region; and
o exploring implementation of a final tier of tactics.
• By December 31, 2018, staff shall have begun implementation of those final tier tactics
that not only are most achievable but also have the broadest return on investment in
terms of multiplying the Port's impact on reducing human trafficking. In particular, staff
should focus on collaborations with tenants, vendors, concessionaires, contractors and
partners such as the Northwest Seaport Alliance.
To best summarize our progress to-date, staff have created the below matrix.
COMMISSION AGENDA – Briefing Item No. 8a Page 3 of 6
Meeting Date: July 24, 2018
Template revised September 22, 2016.
Template revised September 22, 2016.
Required Tactic
January
Motion
Deadline
Completed
Specific
Accomplishments
Developing a
curriculum,
planning
trainings for key
Port employees
(mainly law
enforcement)
March 31,
2018
No
• The Port has held
three trainings for
Port employees
(including one
specifically for Port
police), reaching
over 200
employees
• The Trafficking
Training
Subcommittee has
finalized an RFP to
request outside
help in developing
and conducting
trainings
• The Police
Department has
developed a
curriculum for all
officers that they
will begin to roll
out at the end of
the year.
Police on the
implementation of
their training plan.
• Request Commission
update their motion
to make this a
December 31, 2018
deadline.
Joining key
alliances and
committees
March 31,
2018
Yes
The Port has joined
Businesses Against
Slavery and
Trafficking’s
Employer Alliance,
the King County
Commercially
Sexually Exploited
Children Task Force
and the Washington
Advisory Committee
on Trafficking. We
also sponsored a
table at the 2018
Stolen Youth
2018 Statewide
Commercially Sexually
Exploited Children’s
Task Force Conference
at the Sea-Tac
Conference Center in
October 2018.
COMMISSION AGENDA – Briefing Item No. 8a Page 4 of 6
Meeting Date: July 24, 2018
Template revised September 22, 2016.
Template revised September 22, 2016.
Luncheon.
Conducting
initial awareness
raising
March 31,
2018
Yes
Held a press
conference to
announce our
initiative, and posted
signage at Sea-Tac
throughout January
in honor of Human
Trafficking
Awareness Month.
activities when we
launch our regional
public awareness
campaign, and for the
January 2019 Human
Trafficking Awareness
Month.
Advocating for
policy changes
March 31,
2018
Yes
Engaged with state
and federal
stakeholders to
evaluate key pieces
of legislation;
included trafficking in
the 2018 federal
policy agenda. 2018
saw the passage of
the federal Stop
Enabling Sex
Traffickers Act, and
the federal closure of
Backpage.com.
advocates to identify
opportunities for Port
engagement during the
2019 legislative
session.
Developing a
curriculum,
planning
trainings for all
Port employees
June 30,
2018
No
The Trafficking
Training
Subcommittee has
finalized an RFP to
request outside help
in developing and
conducting trainings.
RFP, and solicit
proposals for the
contract
• Request Commission
update their motion
to make this a
December 31, 2018
Ensuring Port
policies restrict
engagement in
trafficking
June 30,
2018
Yes
The Port is finalizing
an Executive Policy
that outlines the
restriction on
trafficking activity.
policy will be
incorporated into the
training curriculum.
Installing signage
in Port facilities
to increase
awareness
June 30,
2018
No
• The Port has
formed a
partnership with
the City of Seattle,
King County
public awareness
campaign in the
coming months.
•
COMMISSION AGENDA – Briefing Item No. 8a Page 5 of 6
Meeting Date: July 24, 2018
Template revised September 22, 2016.
Template revised September 22, 2016.
(including Metro),
Sound Transit and
others to conduct
a regional public
awareness
campaign, based
on King County’s
successful 2013
campaign. We are
working with the
group to finalize
the exact timing of
the campaign.
• The Port is
partnering with
the FBI and the US
Attorney’s office
to increase public
awareness of both
trafficking and in-
flight sexual
assault, including
signage on Sea-Tac
bathroom stall
doors and a joint
press conference.
• The signage for
both campaigns is
designed, and
circulating to
partners for final
approval.
assault signage in the
coming months.
• Request Commission
update their motion
to make this a
December 31, 2018
deadline.
Exploring
implementation
of a final tier of
tactics
June 30,
2018
Yes
Key conversations
have already begun
on topics such as
offering trafficking
training to non-Port
employees working
at our facilities,
leveraging new
technologies to help
people report
trafficking, and
progress on
implementing these
tactics.
COMMISSION AGENDA – Briefing Item No. 8a Page 6 of 6
Meeting Date: July 24, 2018
Template revised September 22, 2016.
Template revised September 22, 2016.
extending these
efforts to the NW
Seaport Alliance.
We are also pleased to have hired a Port Veterans Fellow, Chad Aldridge, who will spend the
rest of 2018 staffing this effort to ensure its successful completion. While we have made
substantial progress, we will not meet all deadlines set by the Commission motion, and request
that timelines be updated for remaining items to reflect the new expectation of deliverables.
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND
Although slavery is commonly thought to be a thing of the past, each year millions of men,
women, and children are trafficked in countries around the world, including the United States.
Traffickers use violence, threats, deception, debt bondage, and other manipulative tactics to
force people to engage in commercial sex or to provide labor or services against their will. It is
estimated that human trafficking generates billions of dollars of profit per year – second only to
drug trafficking as the most profitable form of transnational crime.
Here in Washington state, we are not immune from the problem. Washington had the 14th
highest call volume to the National Human Trafficking Hotline in 2015. In King County, an
estimated 300-500 children are prostituted annually, some are as young as 11 years old; there
are over 100 websites for soliciting sex in the Seattle area, many of which are used for human
trafficking purposes.
As both the operator of an airport and an owner of a wide array of maritime facilities, we can
help reduce the probability that our properties will be used as a transit point for traffickers and
their victims. As a major employer, we can save lives by educating our staff on the damaging
effect that exploitation and trafficking have on individual lives and families, and how it
undermines our commitment to equity and social justice. As a public sector leader, we can
collaborate with other jurisdictions, customers, vendors and partners to raise awareness of this
important issue.
ATTACHMENTS TO THIS BRIEFING
(1) January 9 Commission Human Trafficking Motion
(2) Port Human Trafficking Strategy
(3) Presentation slides
PREVIOUS COMMISSION ACTIONS OR BRIEFINGS
• January 9, 2018 – The Commission passed a motion directing staff to finalize and
implement the Port’s human trafficking strategy.