Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron held a virtual news conference Wednesday morning to announce a new program focusing on preventing missing and runaway children. It’s called the "It Saves Know" campaign.
The overall goal of the campaign is to protect minors from human trafficking by “mobilizing Kentuckians to recognize signs a child may be considering running away,” according to a news release.
The campaign also includes resources and training for locating missing children, for stakeholders law enforcement and caregivers.
Cameron said Over 3,700 Kentucky children were reported missing last year, and the most were endangered runaways from varied backgrounds.
“Runaways become targets for those who trafficked children,” he said. “It is estimated that one in six runaways is approached by human traffickers within the first 48 hours of going missing. This cannot continue.”
Signs that a child might be running away include — starting cash savings without a goal, hiding clothing in a backpack and verbal mentions of running away.
The program is funded through a US Department of Justice grant and is a follow up program to the 2021 anti-human trafficking program “Your Eye Save Lives.”
Both are run through the Office of Trafficking and Abuse Prevention and Prosecution, of which Heather Wagers is Executive director.
“The ‘It Saves to Know’ Campaign is a further extension of our effort to raise awareness in the Commonwealth about the dangers facing children that are abducted or go missing ,” Wagers said. “We also have in our campaign the signs that a child may be considering running away.”
The program includes an educational website and a social media campaign. Cameron says there has been an increase in human trafficking.
“For instance, from 2020 to 2022, the Commonwealth experienced a 70-percent increase in the number of child trafficking victims and a 67-percent increase in child trafficking reports.”
Also speaking was Radcliff Police Chief Col. Jeffrey Cross.
At the same news conference Cameron declared that May is Missing Child Awareness Month in the Commonwealth.