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Jordan was joined by Mayor Dewey Bartlett and Tulsa County Undersheriff Brian Edwards in support of the group's goal. Besides battling child trafficking and exploitation, the group works to combat trafficking in adults, including through prostitution and the bringing of illegal immigrants into the country for forced labor, Jordan said.
Dec. 02--A national group that works to combat child trafficking will assess the level of human trafficking and exploitation in the Tulsa area, authorities announced Wednesday.
The group, Stop Child Trafficking Now, will conduct the assessment and will give selected Tulsa officers free access to its national database, which contains information on child predators and traffickers, Police Chief Chuck Jordan said.
Jordan was joined by Mayor Dewey Bartlett and Tulsa County Undersheriff Brian Edwards in support of the group's goal.
Besides battling child trafficking and exploitation, the group works to combat trafficking in adults, including through prostitution and the bringing of illegal immigrants into the country for forced labor, Jordan said.
"I think it is an issue that needs to be brought to the forefront, and this group has done that," he said.
Bartlett said Tulsa is in a unique position geographically to intervene in such trafficking in the U.S.
"We simply cannot allow it, will not allow it to happen," he said.
Jason and Kristen Weis of Stop Child Trafficking Now said Tulsa is being proactive rather than reactive to the child-predator problem.
Clark Stuart, who is described as the group's operatives president, said: "It is a changing world we live in, a world that is based largely on information. At a time when we have to do more with less, being able to effectively manage that information is what is going to give us the ability to do that."
Edwards
said sharing information among agencies is invaluable, so the database should be a benefit to the community.
"This is a pretty hard problem for any community to get their arms around," he said.
Nicole Marshall 581-8459
Credit: Tulsa World, Okla.
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