A historic initiative led by the Division of Criminal Justice (DCJ) human trafficking team, beginning July 2025, every new law enforcement recruit will be required to receive specialized training in identifying, investigating, and responding to human trafficking.
For the first time in Colorado history, Colorado’s Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) program is recommending the use of a course tailored to train police academy cadets on how to recognize and understand human trafficking called Human Trafficking Investigations: An Introductory Course into law enforcement training. This initiative, led by the Division of Criminal Justice’s human trafficking team, its Colorado Human Trafficking Council (CHTC), and local and state law enforcement officers, aims to equip police officers with the necessary tools to identify, investigate, and disrupt human trafficking operations within the state.
Before this transition, human trafficking training was an elective for in-service training— an optional topic that law enforcement agencies and police academies could offer, but were not required to include. This training required in the basic academy curriculum will ensure police officers have the tools and knowledge to uncover exploitation from day one.
“The transition from elective to essential reflects our commitment to ensuring trafficking victims are no longer invisible in Colorado’s justice system,” said Matthew Lunn, director of the Division of Criminal Justice. “We see this program not only as a statewide necessity, but a national model, one that centers survivor voices, equips frontline responders, and bridges the gap between law enforcement and victim service providers.”
This shift did not happen overnight. The roots of the new training requirement stretch back to 2016, when DCJ’s human trafficking team and members of the Colorado Human Trafficking Council (CHTC) began building relationships with local law enforcement champions and POST leadership. Those conversations, grounded in a desire to collaborate rather than duplicate efforts, led to the development of a training program designed specifically for frontline law enforcement.
"This training is about more than just definitions," said Camerron Resener, Division of Criminal Justice human trafficking training, technical assistant lead. “It’s about building instincts, giving officers the confidence to pause, look deeper, ask the right questions, and incorporate this practice in their daily work."
The Human Trafficking Investigations: An Introductory Course was crafted by a training advisory committee convened by the Council, including task force members from across Colorado’s anti-trafficking landscape, law enforcement officers, prosecutors, survivors, community based and criminal justice victim advocates, and others with direct experience investigating and responding to trafficking cases. Together, in collaboration with the DCJ’s team, they created training rooted in real-world case studies, Colorado-specific laws, and practical investigative techniques that police officers can apply in the field.
The self-paced online two-hour version of the training course is tailored to police officers, who are likely to encounter trafficking victims during moments like traffic stops, domestic violence calls, and labor disputes.
“This flexibility to take it online was intentional,” said Camerron, “It is recognizing that many officers’ unpredictable schedules make it difficult to complete long, in-person training.”
This training focuses on concrete investigative tools tailored specifically for law enforcement officers. Officers are taught not just what human trafficking is, but how to:
- Identify trafficking indicators during routine calls,
- Collect and preserve critical evidence before it disappears,
- Distinguish between trafficking, domestic violence, and other overlapping offenses,
- Conduct trauma-informed interviews that avoid re-traumatizing survivors,
- Collaborate with service providers, victim advocates, and prosecutors to build successful cases,
- The curriculum integrates real-life case studies from Colorado, grounding every lesson in the realities officers face in their communities,
- It also addresses the long-standing misconception that trafficking always involves kidnapping or cross-border movement, emphasizing that trafficking frequently hides behind familiar crimes including wage theft, intimate partner abuse, or coerced sex work.
Since July 2023, when the online, self-paced version of the training became available as an elective, more than 180 peace officers have completed the course, including every dispatcher within the Colorado State Patrol (CSP).
The training has already led to tangible changes in the field. In one reported case, a Colorado State Patrol emergency dispatcher, having recently completed the training, became concerned during an assisted routine traffic stop with a CSP trooper. The dispatcher flagged potential trafficking indicators to the trooper on scene, who followed up by documenting the concerns and digging deeper into the situation. This shift in mindset and process is what the training is designed to achieve.
That dispatcher’s knowledge was the difference between a report being closed, a possible trafficking case being investigated. That’s the power of training, and that’s why making human trafficking training mandatory is such a game-changer.
Law enforcement personnel and agencies interested in scheduling in-person instructor-led training or accessing the self-paced online training module should email Camerron Resener.