AUBURN — The Auburn Police Department received the prestigious IACP Civil Rights Award for its work in promoting awareness of human trafficking. It was presented during the International Association of Chiefs of Police annual conference in October in San Diego.

The Auburn Police Department acknowledged that it was time to shine a light on the dark oppression of the most vulnerable — the plight of victims and survivors who have suffered the cruelties of human trafficking — a modern-day form of slavery.

Recognizing that the Auburn Police Department needed to develop organizational partnerships to educate and mobilize the community, the agency joined forces with a group of like-minded individuals who had a passion to educate the community on human trafficking locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.

In the fall of 2011, the partners organized a conference — “Not Here — A Call to Action Against Human Trafficking.” Those efforts began charting out a course to focus on four vital components: protection, prevention, partnership and prosecution.

The IACP Civil Rights Award recognizes outstanding law enforcement achievements in protecting civil and human rights.

The single-agency award was presented to Chief Phillip Crowell Jr. Also present for the award acceptance was Halsey Frank, Assistant U.S. Attorney; William Legere, Central Maine Medical Center emergency medicine nurse practitioner and co-founder of the Not Here Justice in Action Network; and Kristen Cloutier, assistant director for the Harward Center at Bates College.