Photo courtesy of USF
By Jasmin Parrado
The Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Lab at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg launched a repository that can gather data of human trafficking across Florida for organizations and agencies.
The tool, known as TIPSTR, introduced on Feb. 27, may potentially help policymakers and organizational advocates address root problems contributing to trafficking crimes. The lab team believes this can bring significant progress to the state, which holds the third highest human trafficking statistic to date.
In 2023, the TIP Lab was declared the main statewide repository through which all trafficking data would be reported. Now, TIPSTR can evaluate this statewide data through an aggregate that was mostly absent from systems made to combat human trafficking in the state.
Following its beginnings in 2020, TIP director Joan Reid and assistant director Shelly Wagers performed a need assessment in Florida’s communities. They identified gaps in data relay as well as a lack of streamlined connections to support services.
These problems sparked the lab’s creation of the BRIGHT (Bridging Resources and Information Gaps in Human Trafficking) Network as well as TIPSTR itself. BRIGHT’s launch in 2024 provided a referral network of services for trafficking victims. Now, TIPSTR aims to address the disconnect within institutions and state departments.
“Before the repository, all agencies in Florida were collecting their own human trafficking data, but it was all siloed separately,” said Alexandra McCullum, research services administrator at the TIP Lab. “So, none of it was being shared with each other across agencies, and especially not with the community organizations and partners that they were working with.”
In light of that problem, Reid and Wagers partnered with Allies Against Slavery, a nonprofit organization that provides a centralized data platform for trafficking cases, to enhance Florida’s own network.
“The TIP Lab was aware of Allies Against Slavery’s work in other states before they began [TIPSTER], so it was really utilized as a proof of concept that their model works,” McCullum said.
The repository will release an annual report deriving data from departments and courts, allowing for community partners and decisionmakers to determine the status of each area’s safety against human trafficking.
“One of our goals is to help influence policy change,” McCullum said. “With the state report, it’ll allow a statewide look, but also a community-level look at what’s going on and what gaps need to be filled with policies, or what policies could be enacted to help support survivors and also community organizations.”
