HomeMy WebLinkAboutSubmittal-David Maer-Letter from State Attorney to CommissionSTATE ATTORNEY
ELEVENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT OF FLORIDA
E. R. GRAHAM BUILDING
1350 N.W. I2TH AVENUE
MIAMI, FLORIDA 33136-2111
KATHERINE FERNANDEZ RUNDLE
Submitted into the public
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onCity Clerk
TELEPHONE. (305) 547-0100
STATE ATTORNEY ww..miamiSAO. com
January 22, 2020
Dear Mayor Suarez and City of Miami Commissioners:
On behalf of Miami -Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, I want to thank the Mayor and
the City of Miami Commission for their support and anticipated funding aimed at assisting the State
Attorney's Office in combatting Human Trafficking. The State Attorney's Office has been a leader in
fighting human trafficking having established Florida's first dedicated human trafficking unit in 2012. In
November 2018, she opened the Institute for Coordination, Advocacy, and Prosecution (ICAP) believed to
be the first center to ever house prosecutors, investigators and victim services in one building. The center
works directly with victims of this horrific crime.
Last year, the Super Bowl Host Committee and the Women's Fund of Miami joined forces with the State
Attorney's Office in the launch of a dedicated local SAO Human Trafficking Hotline (305-FIX-STOP) and
a Stop Sex Trafficking Campaign in preparation for the 2020 Superbowl being held on February 2"d, 2020.
The campaign advertises and directs callers to a dedicated local State Attorney's Office Human
Trafficking Hotline number operational 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and answered by highly trained victim
specialists. The hotline will serve as the initial contact point for victims, law enforcement, the Department
of Children and Families, social service agencies and families. Recovered human trafficking victims will
be brought to the Rapid Response Net Center, now operational 24/7 through the second week of
February. Victims immediate needs will be assessed and collaborating partners will be available to provide
emergency medical and psychiatric services, crisis counseling, shelter, safe housing, re -location and all of
the essential services victims need to feel safe, begin the recovery process and fully break away from the
trafficker.
We appreciate the overwhelming community support we have already received and the funding the City
of Miami will hopefully approve through today's Resolution in the fight to combat human trafficking in
Miami -Dade County.
Sincerely
s
7
ATHERINE FERNANDEZ RUNDLE
State Attorney
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