BY JEFF CHUDZINSKI
North Country This Week

CANTON — The St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office has been awarded a grant to help deter human trafficking and provide assistance to victims.

The Howard G. Buffett Foundation grant will be used to cover expenses associated with joining a labor trafficking task force in New York State.

St. Lawrence County legislators voted to approve a budget modification to accept the funds during the Operations Committee meeting on Aug. 8.

According to the resolution, “the task force will include local law enforcement, victim serving agencies, legal services and outreach entities.”

Officials say the funding will be administered by the Erie County Sheriff’s office, with sub-awards being sent to local law enforcement and not-for-profit agencies to cover criminal investigations, prosecutions, outreach, legal advocacy, case management, emergency assistance, training coordination and data analysis.

The resolution also states that the task force will consist of “care member agencies such as the Erie County Sheriff’s Office, St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office, Erie County District Attorney’s Office, International Institute of Buffalo (IIB), Western NY Coalition of Migrant Serving Agencies (the Coalition) and Renewal House.”

Goals of the grant are to conduct victim centered proactive labor trafficking investigations and prosecutions, providing comprehensive case management and immigration legal services to identify victims, officials say.

The grant is for a three-year period and totals $1,000,720. Expenses covered by the grant will include salary, benefits, any other necessary equipment and contractual expenses, according to the resolution.

Legislators will have to finalize the acceptance of the funds during the next full board meeting before the Sheriff’s office can officially accept the funds.