Law enforcement agencies complete human trafficking course at Robeson Community College

LUMBERTON — Representatives from numerous law enforcement agencies, including the North Carolina Highway Patrol, took part in a continuing education class at Robeson Community College recently. The class was titled, Interdiction for the Protection of Children (IPC) to enhance efforts to combat human trafficking.

“This was a class introduced to us by Texas DPS Troopers,” stated one of the trainers. “It is a 16-hour class that we have been teaching our Troopers and other local LEO’s throughout the state.”

The course is a part of the North Carolina Justice Academy, training open to law enforcement officers. The class was taught by instructors from the NC State Highway Patrol, Raleigh Police Department, True Justice, and ABC Law Enforcement.

“The goal of IPC is to train law enforcement officers to identify: (a) individuals who pose a high risk to children; (b) children who are being trafficked, exploited, or abused by one or more adults, and (c) children who are risk for various forms of exploitation (e.g. runaways, abductees),” the trainer wrote in an email.

“IPC is designed to make patrol officers more aware of the variety of resources available to assist them in establishing the status of a child who may be missing, exploited, or at risk of exploitation and what courses of action are immediately available,” the trainer explained.

Those attending received a certificate of completion which had included signatures from both the North Carolina Human Trafficking Commission and the Texas Department of Public Safety.

For more information on the IPC course at Robeson Community College, please contact Matt Dimery, the director of law enforcement programs, at 910-272-3480 or [email protected] .