2020 doTERRA Healing Hands Annual Report 2020 | Page 65

Hands ® also supports programs that promote behavioral health , wellness , and resilience for law enforcement officers . Designed specifically for officers who encounter child trafficking and exploitative cases regularly , these programs include easy access to qualified therapists .
Additional dōTERRA Healing Hands donations continue to support mobile forensics labs , investigative tools , and even K9s specially trained to locate the most compact forms of electronic storage .
COVID-19 has hit many countries and people hard , particularly at-risk children ; however , law enforcement officers in our areas of impact are receiving valuable tools to assist them in the fight against human trafficking .
When electronic evidence is uncovered at a crime scene , it is usually shipped to a lab for processing , which can take months . In the meantime , perpetrators remain free and online . In 2017 , the dōTERRA Healing Hands Foundation provided funding for a mobile crime lab that processes evidence on site in just hours , making it possible to quickly arrest dangerous individuals who are exploiting children . By 2018 , the lab was ready to begin onsite investigations in the Mesa , AZ , region .
Fast forward to 2020 , when the Mesa Police Department is now making headway on the fight against child exploitation because of their access to the mobile lab . While much progress has been made , Sergeant Jason Troth of the Mesa PD says that there is still a lot that we can do to protect our children from online traffickers .
“ Unfortunately , there are people out there who are looking to take advantage of kids , and they are doing it all day , every day ,” Sergeant Troth says . When giving advice for helping families to keep their kids safe from online predators , Sergeant Troth says , “ My suggestion is that you shouldn ’ t give your kids a device if you ’ re not willing to pay attention to it , to give them ground rules , or to have honest conversations with them about it .”
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