Human Trafficking Awareness Presenter to Speak at UD

DUBUQUE, Iowa - Ray Fiedler (C'85), coordinator for the Iowa Office to Combat Human Trafficking in the Iowa Department of Public Safety's Division of Intelligence and Fusion Center, will be the guest speaker at the Human Trafficking Prevention and Awareness Event at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday, April 10, 2024, in Room 264 in the Peter and Susan Smith Welcome Center on the University of Dubuque campus.

The event is free and open to the public.

Fiedler is responsible for training public and private entities regarding human trafficking, certifying hotels related to their training in human trafficking as required by Iowa Code, creating partnerships with public and private entities, and assisting agencies in investigating and sharing information in human trafficking cases. He is a retired special agent with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and spent over 20 years in the Major Crimes Unit investigating homicide, kidnapping, sexual assault, burglaries, and other felony level cases. Fiedler also has conducted training in elder abuse, sexual assault, and officer involved shootings investigations as well as active armed encounters.

In 1985, Fiedler graduated from the University of Dubuque with a bachelor of science in mathematics and computer science. He minored in business administration.

The Human Trafficking Prevention and Awareness Event is organized by members of a group project in a Human Trafficking class aimed at providing information about human trafficking to the UD campus and larger community. Group members are Jacob Edwards, a junior criminal justice major from Chattanooga, Tennessee; Bryton Engle, a junior criminal justice major from Hanover, Illinois; Iolana Haines, a senior criminal justice major from Anchorage, Alaska; Logan Kearns, a junior criminal justice major from Montrose, Iowa; and Abby Sheeder, a senior psychology major from Altoona, Iowa.

"Whether we know it or not, human trafficking is an epidemic in every single one of our daily lives, and we need to know how to see it and ultimately prevent it," Engle said, adding. "Our project will spread awareness to the community through a speaker who will disclose firsthand experiences and years of knowledge in an effort to not only raise awareness but also increase community knowledge when it comes to human trafficking as a whole."