D.A. Secures Grant To Address Human Trafficking

BARNSTABLE – “What a difference a D.A. makes.”

State Sen. Julian Cyr, D-Truro, was referring Feb. 5 to funding recently secured through the office of Cape and Islands District Attorney Rob Galibois to help the region better address the issue of human trafficking and provide greater support to its victims locally.

State legislators including Cyr, State Sen. Susan Moran, D-Falmouth, and State Rep. Steven Xiarhos, R-Barnstable, joined local law enforcement officials and those from the District Attorney’s office for a press conference announcing the receipt of the $97,051 grant from the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security’s Office of Grants and Research. The funding will be used to provide training and equipment for the Barnstable Police Department to aid in their investigations into human trafficking. It will also fund materials and services to better support trafficking victims through partnering agencies.

“Currently there are no local resources specifically designed for survivors of human trafficking on the Cape,” said Danielle Whitney, a spokesperson for the D.A.’s office. “With that being said, we are delighted to be able to partner with two extraordinary agencies to provide those lacking resources for survivors of human trafficking here on Cape Cod.”

The Cape and Islands may not present itself as fertile ground for human trafficking activity, but officials say the problem is here, and it’s growing. Whitney said that the office has prosecuted 58 human trafficking cases in the last three years. That’s a 31 percent increase from 2021 to 2023, she said.

Vanessa Madge, who leads the DA’s office’s human trafficking and child protection unit, said today, much of the local trafficking activity occurs online. She said victims are often brought into the sex trade by being offered something they want or need. For some it might be love. In other cases, it could be something as simple as a cell phone.

“Basically traffickers look to expose people’s vulnerabilities,” she said.

Efforts to ramp up the region’s response to human trafficking started soon after Galibois took office in January 2023. At an event to raise awareness about the issue at a Hyannis coffee shop, he met representatives from the nonprofit Cape Cod PATH (People Against Trafficking Humans), as well as Orleans Police Chief Scott MacDonald. MacDonald has taken point on leading a task force composed of police from departments across the Cape to help improve the local police response to the problem.

“It was you, sir, that put me on this particular path that brings us into this conference room here today. And I want to thank you for that,” Galibois told MacDonald during the press conference.

Some of the grant funding will be shared between two agencies. My Life My Choice, a Boston-based nonprofit offering support to human trafficking victims and survivors, will use some of the funding to help expand its services to Cape Cod. That could include training local agencies on its prevention program or running prevention groups.

My Life My Choice also pairs trafficking victims with trafficking survivors. Audrey Morrissey, the nonprofit’s co-executive director, is herself a survivor, and has helped mentor young victims in the past.

“When I was able to share with a young person my experience and that the same thing had happened to me as a young person, I watched their body language change,” she said. “I watched the arms become uncrossed.”

At Independence House in Hyannis, executive director Lysetta Hurge-Putnam said staff at the nonprofit have come into contact with trafficking victims, but that the training and systems needed to support them have not been in place. She said she hopes the grant funding will help Independence House and other agencies provide a more “robust” response to the problem.

Specifically, Putnam said Independence House will have someone trained and ready to assist victims who need help.

“We’re going to have someone available at the police stations, at the hospital,” she said. “Just to be there when we’re needed.”

The funding will also be used to help Cape Cod PATH provide “care bags” for human trafficking victims. The bags, which will be offered through local police departments, provide basic essentials such as toiletries and clothes to those who need them.

“If that person wants to get out of the life right now and they have nothing, they have a backpack,” said Cape Cod PATH co-chair Janice Hank.

More broadly, Madge said the funding will also be used to create awareness of the issue across the Cape. That could include training for workers in the hospitality and transportation sectors, as well as local hospitals and outpatient clinics.

“That way they can recognize if it’s happening here and know what to do in response,” she said.

Xiarhos voiced support for broad community training. A former deputy chief with the Yarmouth Police Department, he said hotel and motel rooms on the Cape have been known to harbor human trafficking activity.

Galibois said the funding from the Office of Grants and Research has been available in past years, but only now has the District Attorney’s office applied for and received the grant. He said his office will work to secure additional funding through the office in future grant rounds. There also may be other funding sources available through the Department of Justice, he said.

“Should the funding be available, we will be applying,” he said.

Galibois also announced a separate $98,998 grant, also through the Office of Grants and Research, to help local and state police better investigate drug and firearms cases on the Cape and Islands.

The funding will provide equipment and training for state police as well as the Falmouth and Yarmouth police departments. It will also allow for the expansion of a youth alternative peer group program run by the Chatham-based nonprofit Behavioral Health Innovators.

“We’re very excited to be able to provide those opportunities to those agencies,” he said.

Email Ryan Bray at ryan@capecodchronicle.com