shows that the number of human trafficking victims continues to increase in Ohio. Since 2014, when the state began compiling data, Ohio has moved from fifth-place to fourth in the nation for the number of cases. California, Texas and Florida make up the top three.
Susan Laird is executive director of the . She says the increase is 鈥渁 double-edged sword,鈥� since it involves the number of reported cases.
鈥淚 was originally very disappointed, and I thought, 鈥榳hat are we doing; we鈥檙e not making an impact?鈥� And our Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force said, 鈥榥o, you don鈥檛 understand. People are talking about this now. They鈥檙e calling for information. We鈥檙e getting reports and tips. This is a good thing.鈥欌��
The statistics are released every January in conjunction with Human Trafficking Awareness month. The report from the state鈥檚 Human Trafficking Task Force .
