Lorain County commissioners approved a $449,615 grant agreement for the Lorain County Sheriff’s Office’s human trafficking program on Oct. 25, and one of the commissioners floated the idea of ​​creating a subdivision of Cleveland Missing.

The grant agreement is through the Ohio Department of Public Safety and will provide $437,058 for Human Trafficking Task Force salaries and $12,556 for supplies and other expenses, according to county documents.

Sheriff’s Capt. Richard Bosley attended the commissioners’ meeting to explain the task force’s role, which includes three other counties, in the program called HEAL, which stands for Huron, Erie, Ashland and Lorain County sheriff’s offices.

“We’re trying to get people out of the trap of human trafficking, no matter what kind of trade it is,” Bosely said.

He said the goal of the HEAL program is to identify victims of human trafficking and divert them from their kidnappers.

Statistics show that many of the victims were arrested multiple times and law enforcement never knew they were victims of a trafficking organization, Bosley said.

He said part of the program will include working with incarcerated people to identify them as quickly as possible as victims of human trafficking schemes.

Bosley also said the grant was awarded to the Lorain County Sheriff’s Office, but the agency will administer it and allocate the funds to the other three counties.

He said task force members are seeking advice from professors at Bowling Green State University and other law enforcement agencies as they continue to build the HEAL program.

Commission Vice Chairman Dave Moore came up with the idea of ​​starting a subdivision of Cleveland Missing, a nonprofit organization that helps families with missing family members.

“I don’t want to create something new,” Moore said. “They (Cleveland Missing) have a very good program.”

Moore said he would like to begin discussing the idea of ​​creating the subdivision within the next two to three months.

He said he recently attended a meeting where several families shared their experiences finding their missing loved ones and how Cleveland Missing helped them in their time of need.

Elizabeth Smart, who has been missing for 10 years, was one of the speakers and the Huron County family whose family member was found dead and the accused killer are facing murder charges in Huron County Common Pleas Court.

Moore recalled the event as “very emotional” and “very touching”.

He said it was a very emotional meeting.