This week, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody announced the Jacksonville Port Authority (JAXPORT) to the 100 Percent Club. Moody’s 100 Percent Club recognizes businesses that train employees to spot and report human trafficking. With JAXPORT’s addition to the 100 Percent Club, nearly 200 more Floridians are now trained to identify trafficking and alert authorities to suspicious activities—bringing the total number of people trained through the program to more than 8,300.
Moody said, “JAXPORT is the first public port to join our 100 Percent Club, and we are excited to have them on the team as we fight to end human trafficking in Florida. Since we launched the 100 Percent Club in 2022, the program has helped train more than 8,300 individuals statewide. Equipping more Floridians with the information they need to spot and report suspicious activity will help us stop this atrocious crime and save lives.”
Jacksonville Port Authority Chair Daniel Bean said, “The safety and security of everyone who enters our facilities is our top priority. We are proud to join Attorney General Moody in this fight to stop the exploitation of innocent people. With 100 percent of our employees having completed this training, they now have the resources needed to identify the signs of human trafficking, potentially saving lives.”
JAXPORT is Florida’s largest container port and one of the nation’s largest vehicle-handling ports. The port offers shippers access to 98 million consumers daily, working with more than 100 trucking firms and 40 daily trains to ship products. Now joining the 100 Percent Club, JAXPORT has provided anti-human trafficking training to 175 employees.
According to Maritime Fair Trade, thousands of people are illegally trafficked across the ocean every year—facing exploitation and abuse with little hope of escape or rescue. Due to JAXPORT’s proximity to major interstate systems and its large volume of traffic every day, having nearly 200 new pairs of eyes and ears looking out for potential trafficking could save lives.
According to news reports, throughout the entirety of Duval County, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office rescued 10 human trafficking victims last year, and 15 victims in 2021. In August, during the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s annual Operation Cross Country, authorities made more than 50 trafficking-related arrests in Jacksonville and Nassau County. There have been no documented cases of human trafficking at JAXPORT.
Since 2019, Moody’s Office of Statewide Prosecution has charged or sentenced 125 trafficking defendants, with a nearly perfect conviction record.
Moody launched the 100 Percent Club last year to recognize companies taking proactive steps to train employees on the signs of human trafficking. To join the 100 Percent Club, companies provide this training and commit to issuing a quick-reference guide for employees on how to report human trafficking.
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