PANAMA CITY — The Bay County Commission recently proclaimed January as Human Trafficking Awareness Month.
During a ceremony at the commission meeting, representatives from the Human Trafficking Task Force Circuit 14 received a plaque to proclaim January as Human Trafficking Awareness Month. While the word awareness can seem cliche, that is the most important thing people can do, according to Laurie Lawrence, professional communication assisting teaching professor at Florida State University-Panama City.
"There are identifiers we can look for and there are red flags that we see every day that can help victims," Lawrence said. "Most people think that a victim is someone who is abducted and while they are, some of them walk among us."