Gov. Pillen conducts first news conference

LINCOLN, Neb. (WOWT) - Gov. Jim Pillen held his first news conference Tuesday morning.

He’s discussing human trafficking ahead of signing a proclamation for Human Trafficking Awareness Month.

State Attorney General Mike Hilgers was there to support the governor in raising awareness of the issue in Nebraska and in the legislature.

The state is also releasing its Human Trafficking Task Force report on Tuesday.

Nebraska State Patrol Col. John Bolduc called attention to the new hotline set up last fall — 833-PLS-LOOK — for reporting human trafficking tips. He said the hotline has received an average of 12 calls per month, which is significantly more than the 2-3 tips NSP received on average before that.

In describing the sorts of tips that are coming in, he said they were in line with the things that people have been asked to watch for: suspicious activities in places that often create an opportunity for human trafficking, like restaurants, hotels, truck stops, college campuses, etc.

Bolduc said that nine tips received from last month are active open investigations.

Q&A

The governor took questions at the end of the news conference and took a moment to acknowledge his friction with the news media while on the campaign trail. He said that before November his mission was on one thing: winning.

“Developing relationships with the press wasn’t on the radar screen,” he said.

When asked his thoughts on appointing Sen. Ben Sasse’s replacement, Pillen said he didn’t want to “water down” the important topic of human trafficking and that he wanted questions to focus on that topic.

He said that he would have more information on his selection in the coming days, but was adamant that Tuesday’s questions stick to the topic at hand.

Watch Tuesday’s news conference

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