Milford community pushes city to pass ordinance to help combat human trafficking

Some Milford community members are pushing the city to create an ordinance to help combat human trafficking. The goal will be to do this through education.

“The folks here in Milford are fed up with traffickers using our town, our city, for their nefarious activities,” said resident Elizabeth Simonetti.

Those neighbors asked the Board of Aldermen during a meeting on Monday night to consider an ordinance. The idea is to require hotel and motel staff, along with truck stop workers in the city, to be educated on the issue of human trafficking and recognize the signs.

They pointed to Waterbury as an example for action when the city passed its own ordinance banning hourly motel and hotel rentals in 2025.

“We ask you to see the light of this issue and the simplicity of the ordinance,” said resident Wally Hauck.

Mirella Beltram, a human trafficking expert who works with the state’s Department of Children and Families (DCF), said more education is a good thing, but it has to be coupled with understanding what possible signs of human trafficking can be.

“There’s someone else that’s always speaking for them, if there’s someone that seems to be in control of them, of their movements or of their situation, or someone seems kind of afraid,” Beltram explained.

Beltram said it’s not always the “snatch and grab” situation that happens in movies, and that known traffickers usually use emotional manipulation and control.

She also noted that state law already requires that all hotel and motel employees be trained to recognize the signs.

“DCF is mandated to provide training to law enforcement, to medical providers, to educators, and hotel and lodging, EMS, and first responders,” Beltram explained.

Neighbors said they hope the city will work with them on having an ordinance.

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