Today may seem like an ordinary Friday, but it’s also Alabama Human Trafficking Awareness Day.

According to a press release from the Alabama Human Trafficking Task Force, the purpose of the day is to educate citizens about human trafficking, raise awareness, outline victim identifiers and explain how to report potential human trafficking situations. Human Trafficking Awareness Day is now in its fifth year.

Bo Williams, publicity chairman for the North Alabama Human Trafficking Task Force, said concrete trafficking numbers in the Huntsville area are difficult to quantify because it’s a hidden industry. He said, however, it is a growing concern in the Tennessee Valley.

He cited recent statistics from the University of Alabama that show there were 600 statewide frontline engagements with human trafficking over the last year. A frontline engagement could mean law enforcement or a rescue organization reported the activity.

Williams said there were 68 human trafficking complaints filed with law enforcement statewide.

“It’s very difficult to suss out exact numbers,” he said. “If someone is arrested for human trafficking, they may plead out to something lesser.”

According to statistics released by the task force, interstates 20, 85, 10 and 65 are considered “major corridors” for human trafficking. Huntsville sits in the middle of six human trafficking hot spots — Nashville, Memphis, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Atlanta and Birmingham.

Williams said while interstates aid trafficking operations, there are groups like Truckers Against Trafficking that report suspicious activity to law enforcement.

While Limestone County hasn’t seen as many cases of human trafficking as other areas in Alabama, Stephen Young, deputy and spokesman for the Limestone County Sheriff’s Office, said we’re not immune.

“We have had several cases within the past few years, including a prostitution operation at the former VIP spa and a more recent case in which young, drug-addicted girls were prostituted out for money and ‘paid’ with methamphetamine,” he said.

Human trafficking statistics

The following statistics were provided by the Alabama Human Trafficking Task Force:

• Human trafficking is the second-largest criminal industry in the world (second only to drug trafficking);

• There are 27 million slaves in the world today — more than at any other time in history;

• It is estimated 600,000 to 800,000 victims are trafficked in the United States every year;

• Approximately $150 billion is generated worldwide through trafficking activities annually;

• The average age of a human trafficking victim is 12;

• Although 79 percent of all sex-trafficking victims are female, the number of males being sexually exploited is rapidly rising; and

• Within the first 48 hours of leaving home, one-third of runaway youths become the victims of human trafficking.

Summit upcoming

Alabama Human Trafficking Awareness Day, which falls in National Human Trafficking Awareness Month, also serves as a prelude to the annual Alabama Human Trafficking Summit. The event is set for Friday, Feb. 8, at the Embassy Suites in Montgomery.

The Alabama Human Trafficking Task Force was established in 2014 and meets each quarter at the Alabama State House. Meetings are open to the public.

The state task force is currently chaired by Pat McCay of Huntsville, who also chairs the Huntsville-Madison County Human Trafficking Task Force.

For more information on the task force and the summit, visit https://www.enditalabama.org.