BILLINGS, MT – January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month. Educators are training workers in key industries to recognize and report the crime, including energy workers in places like Montana.
Human trafficking is the use of force, fraud or coercion to exploit people for sex or labor. The industry makes big illicit profits globally – second only to the drug trade, according to Lindsey Mattson, director of industry engagement with an education group called Tech Against Trafficking (TAT).
TAT now trains groups across the transportation sector that are likely to intersect with traffickers including energy workers and people working at truck stops and dealerships.
Governor Greg Gianforte and Attorney General Austin Knudsen have prioritized addressing human trafficking in Montana. A 2023 law increased penalties for both traffickers and patrons. The state’s Department of Justice worked nearly 130 cases related to trafficking in 2024.
Mattson says energy workers are vital eyes and ears on the ground, because they may use the same gas stations and hotels as traffickers – and the workers, themselves, are targeted because they’re often stationed in one place.
TAT has trained nearly two-million professionals to identify and report the crime, including 50-thousand energy workers in 43 companies.
