In 2021, the hotline received more than 2,800 calls connected to Florida and 781 cases of human trafficking were identified in the state — making it the third highest state in the nation. More than 2,250 victims were involved in these cases.

In 2016, Orlando ranked third in the nation for cities with the highest number of calls per capita related to human trafficking, according to the National Human Trafficking Hotline.

“We host a lot of conferences and high-profile events that draw a lot of people into the state and to Central Florida,” says Jeffrey Goltz ’06�ʳ��, executive dean of Valencia College’s School of Public Safety and �鶹ӳ����ý public affairs alum. “Unfortunately, when you have those big events that drives the demand for sex trafficking.”

But the problem is much bigger than Orlando or Florida. An estimated 25 million human trafficking victims across the globe generate $150 billion annually for their captors, according to the International Labour Organization.

Goltz teamed up with �鶹ӳ����ý Professor of Criminal Justice Roberto Potter and 18 other experts in the field to write Human Trafficking: A Systemwide Public Safety and Community Approach. The textbook provides a practical victim-centered approach to dealing with the issue that differs from the standard theoretical approach of the past.

“This isn’t one of those crimes where you get the victim through the trial,” Potter says. “You get the conviction against the person who victimized them and then basically say, ‘Thank you. Goodbye.’ What these folks really do need is long-term support. It may even be lifetime because for many of them one of the ways they were controlled was through the use of chemicals.”

How Someone Becomes a Trafficking Victim

In the book, Potter, Goltz and the other authors cover how human-trafficking cases unfold from tip to trial and discuss topics such as how trafficking happens, health care professionals’ role in reporting trafficking and prevention.

Traffickers enslave their victims through fraud, force or coercion. False promises to provide safety and a better life, physical restraints, threatening to harm loved ones and blackmail are just a few ways these methods are used.

“The trafficker looks for vulnerable victims,” Goltz says. “Runaways, young people that come from poor family situations where there may be some violence in the family, are a lot of them. Because they promise the victim everything.”

Types of Trafficking

Once a trafficker gains control of a person they can force them to engage in sex trafficking, which accounts for the commercial exploitation of 4.8 million people,  or labor trafficking, which occurs when a person provides goods or services without proper compensation.

“You see trafficking in construction and other industries where basically (employers) enslave these people by charging them more to house, feed and transport them than they make so that the victims can never really get away from their trafficker,” Potter says. “We see people in the migrant industries around agriculture and in the restaurant industry that go through this too,” Potter says.

Trafficking’s Connection to Drugs

Human trafficking is the second-most lucrative criminal business in the world, with drug trafficking making the most profit. The large sum of money generated from human trafficking comes from the ability to sell a person over and over again to perform a service, whereas crimes such as drug trafficking only allow criminals to collect a profit once off of their product.

Drugs also play a role in how people become and stay victims of trafficking. Often a trafficker will promise to supply their victims with drugs, as well as food, shelter and luxury items, in order to gain their trust and reliance. Victims are fed drugs in order to make them mentally weak and prevent them from escaping.

Signs of Trafficking

Healthcare professionals are one of the few people a trafficking victim might come in contact with that can become aware of their situation and get them help.

“When people come in with these interesting, particularly genital, injuries or STDs, health care professionals try running a series of questions by them to see if there’s a trigger there that law enforcement or social services need to be called, but also keep in mind the victim is often very closely accompanied by their trafficker,” Potter says.

Goltz emphasizes the need for healthcare professionals to be properly trained to look for signs such as brandings, tattoos and lack of ID on them, that indicate someone might be trafficked.

What Happens Once Victims Are Found

Discovering a human trafficking victim is only half the battle. Gaining an enslaved person’s trust, prosecuting their captor and rehabilitating the victim are the real challenges law enforcement faces when dealing with these crimes.

It can be extremely difficult for police to get a victim to come forward or to provide information about their captor because their experiences with being trafficked often destroy their ability to trust others, especially authority figures.

“Another one of the biggest challenges with prosecuting these cases happens because victims and suspects, the traffickers, cross into different jurisdictions all the time,” Goltz says. “You know, somebody can be trafficked across county lines, state lines and even internationally. That’s why all the prosecution teams have to work with each other to bring successful prosecution to these traffickers.”

Prevention and Changing the Approach to Trafficking Cases

While law enforcement is a long way away from solving the millions of cases of human trafficking around the world, Potter says it is crucial for police, prosecutors and the average person to change the way they look at trafficking victims in order to address the issue.

The Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation, which handles cases in Orange and Osceola Counties, is one local organization that already is doing this by embedding a unit of social workers that go out with law enforcement on calls for human-trafficking cases.

Ultimately practicing adequate prevention methods is the only way to stop more and more cases of human trafficking from happening.

“I really do go back to family and good human relations, education and sex education, a sexual ethics that talks about respecting other people,” Potter says. “Morality is a key here–strong moral values reduce crime. The idea that anybody can make money or control other people really is a concept that we have to somehow make so difficult for anybody to think that’s acceptable.”

Lakshmi Kollara Sunil, an assistant professor in the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, is a speech scientist using her expertise to help children born with cleft palate and other craniofacial anomalies.

Kollara was first inspired to study ways to improve treatment options for children born with the common birth defect after going on a cleft palate surgical mission trip to Mexico as a graduate research assistant. Serving at a children’s hospital, she conducted evaluations, provided speech therapy to patients and observed more than 200 surgeries. The experience was a turning point that solidified her interest in anatomy and physiology and inspired her to study craniofacial abnormalities for her doctoral program.

Kollara, who leads the �鶹ӳ����ý Craniofacial and Speech Imaging Lab, recently completed a study in which she analyzed MRIs and 3D images of children with cleft lip and cleft palate and collaborated with surgeons, radiologists and other healthcare professionals to develop a treatment course tailored for each patient’s individual condition and anatomical structure. Each cleft palate case is highly unique, and if not corrected, can affect speech, eating and social skills. Examining each case with a collaborative team-based approach brings together key experts from diagnosis through treatment and is designed to improve patient outcomes and reduce the potential for additional surgeries.

Kollara’s research specifically addresses children with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22qDS), also commonly referred to as DiGeorge syndrome. Patients with this genetic condition often demonstrate speech issues and cleft lip or palate.

Take it from U.S. News & World Report’s 2023 Best Graduate Schools Rankings, which are based on in-depth reputational and statistical surveys from more than 800 institutions. Located in one of the nation’s major metropolitan cities, �鶹ӳ����ý is close to a host of internship and job opportunities with many of the nation’s most successful companies.

The rankings are the latest acknowledgement of �鶹ӳ����ý’s dedication to academic excellence, commitment to advancing the professional careers of students and an institutional priority for making significant societal contributions. Earlier this year, U.S. News & World Report recognized �鶹ӳ����ý as one of the top 10 universities in the nation for Online Bachelor’s Programs. Last fall, the publication named �鶹ӳ����ý a national leader in innovation and social mobility. Taken as a whole, the rankings show �鶹ӳ����ý is the place to be for those looking to take their professional careers to the next level.

In the annual rankings, announced today, �鶹ӳ����ý’s Master of Emergency and Crisis Management program placed No. 3 in the nation, ranking among the top ten in the country for the fifth consecutive year. �鶹ӳ����ý was No. 12 for Atomic/ Molecular/ Optical Physics. Four areas of study within public administration ranked among the top 40 in the country. Nine �鶹ӳ����ý engineering programs were in the top 50 among public institutions and in the top 100 among all institutions, both public and private. Overall, nearly 40 programs at �鶹ӳ����ý were rated among the top 150 within their respective fields.

Emergency and Crisis Management Ranked in Top Three – Again

Placing third in the nation, the Master of Emergency and Crisis Management program is the university’s highest-ranking program. The program has been �鶹ӳ����ý’s top-ranked graduate program each of the last four years. The fifth consecutive year that it has placed in the top 10, �鶹ӳ����ý’s program is the only one in Florida to place in the top 10 in this category for 2023.

Earning an average annual salary of around $75,000, the demand for emergency management practitioners is expected to grow 4% through 2029. �鶹ӳ����ý’s program prepares its students, both those working in the industry as well as those looking to break into it, to secure management roles in prominent local and national entities. These include the City of Orlando, Lockheed Martin, the National Military Command Center, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Seminole County Office of Emergency Management.

Program leadership says �鶹ӳ����ý prepares its students to meet the employment demand like few other universities. �鶹ӳ����ý focuses on a whole community approach for all phases of emergency management while emphasizing ethical and culturally competent leadership in public service.

“The ever-increasing number of man-made and natural disasters necessitates the need for professional emergency management practitioners to guide our nation’s communities through times of tragedy and distress.” – Qian Hu, emergency management program director

“The ever-increasing number of man-made and natural disasters necessitates the need for professional emergency management practitioners to guide our nation’s communities through times of tragedy and distress,” says Qian Hu, program director and an associate professor within �鶹ӳ����ý’s School of Public Administration. “For nearly 20 years, �鶹ӳ����ý has been training individuals to meet the demands of threats to our homeland. At �鶹ӳ����ý, our students receive an innovative, hands-on experience that qualifies them to be crisis management leaders anywhere across the globe.”

In addition to the graduate program in Emergency and Crisis Management, the following academic areas within �鶹ӳ����ý’s School of Public Administration were ranked within the top 40 of their respective fields:

A Leader in National Research

“�鶹ӳ����ý’s steady and ongoing investments in AMO physics and laser sciences, both in the Department of Physics and at CREOL, allow our students to work and collaborate on interdisciplinary research at the cutting edge of these fields.” – Zenghu Chang, Pegasus Professor of Physics and Optics and Photonics

Earlier this year, Michael Chini, a �鶹ӳ����ý physics professor, led a �鶹ӳ����ý team that developed the world’s first optical oscilloscope, an instrument that can measure the electric field of light, based on all-solid-state materials. A research team led by Physics Professor Li Fang was awarded an almost $2 million grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation to develop a first-of-its-kind infrared laser system. A team of physics and CREOL professors earned �鶹ӳ����ý an invitation to join LaserNetUS, a U.S. Department of Energy consortium of the nation’s most prominent laser facilities. Recently ficonTEC, a German-based global leader in photonics manufacturing, partnered with �鶹ӳ����ý to establish a Central Florida location and provide CREOL student and faculty researchers access to sophisticated industry production tools through a new lab in the college.

“�鶹ӳ����ý’s steady and ongoing investments in AMO physics and laser sciences, both in the Department of Physics and at CREOL, allow our students to work and collaborate on interdisciplinary research at the cutting edge of these fields,” says Zenghu Chang, a Pegasus Professor of Physics and Optics and Photonics

Overall, 2021 was a banner year for �鶹ӳ����ý research endeavors. From innovative jet propulsion systems to explorations on office-space behaviors, �鶹ӳ����ý research endeavors focused on work that battled threats and sought out opportunities to advance society. An internationally recognized space pioneer, �鶹ӳ����ý conducts innovative applied research, including more than 12 projects related to NASA’s Artemis mission. Last year, �鶹ӳ����ý ranked 25th among public universities for producing patents and 60th in the world, according to the National Academy of Inventors and the Intellectual Property Owners Association.

A Leader in Engineering

Among engineering programs, �鶹ӳ����ý’s College of Engineering and Computer Science ranked No. 43 across public institutions and No. 73 overall. The university placed ahead of several other Florida institutions, including Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, the University of Miami and the University of South Florida.

Nine individual engineering programs and areas were ranked within the top 50 among public institutions. They were all ranked in the top 100 among both public and private institutions. The Computer Science program saw the college’s biggest one-year national leap, rising 13 spaces to No. 69, overall.

A full listing of �鶹ӳ����ý engineering rankings follow:

Other 2023 �鶹ӳ����ý Rankings