Conference to Combat Human Trafficking in South Dakota

Linda Miller

Linda Miller
Linda Miller

A public conference to combat human trafficking in South Dakota State has been planned to hold on July 26, 2013 at the University of South Dakota’s Sanford Education Center 1525 S. Euclid Ave., Sioux Falls, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

A news release issued by Civil Society, a non-profit in Minnesota helping domestic and foreign-born victims of human trafficking stated that the spotlight of the event is to bring hands-on advice to front liners in the rescue of victims.

The event will to help law enforcement, legal and health care professionals, social workers and community members to more effectively deal with the growing crime in the state of South Dakota.

The event theme titled “Fighting The Invasion of Body Snatchers,” will features speakers such as Kevin Koliner of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, South Dakota, Advocates Susan Omanson and Rev. Kimberly Kaveny, of Be Free, a Sioux Falls nonprofit which works with victims, and Linda Miller, attorney and Executive Director of the Civil Society, St. Paul, Minnesota.

The release which stated that Koliner “who recently received the Harvard Kennedy School Award for Best Practices to Combat Human Trafficking in the United States,” will speak on how to build strong cases against traffickers, noted that the U.S. Attorney’s Office – South Dakota had just obtained a life sentence for Sioux Falls sex trafficker Carl Campbell.

Miller will discuss resources for human trafficking victims, including the newly enacting civil law suit allowing human trafficking victims to sue human traffickers for their damages. Furthermore, former state senator and current Second District Judge Joni Cutler, who authored the state law, thereby, making human trafficking a crime, will join former police officer Marty Hoffman, a member of the South Dakota Human Trafficking Task Force to talk about how to “spot the bad guys.”

Interested participants are advised to register online at http:/traffickinginthedakotas.eventbrite.com by July 23, 2013. Although the event is free, donations are encouraged. Box lunches will be available for an additional fee of the conference sponsored by Civil Society, Argosy University, and University of South Dakota.

You can contact Linda Miller for questions at 651-291-0713 or office@civilsocietyhelps.org.