Ohio dog receives first recovery certification following human trafficking

The USPCA now offers training to help K9s detect trafficked individuals.IMAGE: Pexels-Pixabay

Basa, a K9 member of the Ohio Special Response Team, recently received the nation's first certification for anti-human trafficking training. of the United States Police Canine Association.

Sarah Gentry, K9 handler, spoke to WWMFD.com about what this certification trains the dogs to do.

She explained in the article that Basa had just received certification that they had to pass a test with the USPCA, which is the United States Police Canine Association.

The certification was for human trafficking, so the K9 had to locate people hiding in an open field, hiding in a building and hiding in cars, the article reported.

“She's actually the first in the country to certify human trafficking through the USPCA,” Gentry told the outlet. “We are members of the Ohio Special Response Team, which is an all-volunteer search and rescue team. Basa and I are in the canine division and I am a lieutenant in the canine division. The team Ohio Special Response Unit is only deployed by a competent search agency, which is usually law enforcement or fire. We have seven units across the state, and we serve everything. Ohio and neighboring states.

Human trafficking is a serious problem around the world and especially in the United States, reports an article from the Ohio Task Force. The article states that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children handles more than 28,000 missing child cases each year. In Ohio alone, the article states that NCMEC has helped solve more than 1,700 missing child cases in 2023. In the United States, the Human Trafficking Hotline has received reports from more than 23,000 people victims of trafficking.

Even though a significant percentage (up to 95%) of missing children are found safe and sound, the article reports that too many remain and simply never reappear. Additionally, adult victims of trafficking often risk slipping through the cracks of investigations without someone or a group advocating for them, the article reports.