January 17, 2019 06:54 PM
A new state law is helping in the fight against sex trafficking.
Thousands of hotel and motel employees across Minnesota were supposed to go through state-mandated prevention training in November.
Now, the state's department of health is working to verify the training was completed.
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Industry experts say the training is designed to create a level of awareness - especially in suspicious situations.
"It's those things that are out of the ordinary," said Howard Anderson, a longtime member of the Minnesota Lodging Association.
"People are asking for exit rooms, near exits, or they want to pay cash. They don't want to give their license plates."
Anderson said before the mandate, many smaller, locally-owned hotels did some prevention training. But they didn't have access to the resources the state now provides.
He said that could have an impact moving forward.
"There might be some owners and operators out there who have changed their processes," Anderson said.
The state's training materials explain part of those changes should include:
The training materials will be updated and reviewed annually, according to the DOH.
Updated: January 17, 2019 06:54 PM
Created: January 17, 2019 04:50 PM
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