Buffalo, NY – Erie County Sheriff Timothy B. Howard announces that Deputy Theresa Nietzel, the Sheriff Office’s Human Trafficking Investigator and the Program Manager of the Western District of New York Human Trafficking Task Force, has been selected by the New York State Sheriff’s Association to serve on a newly formed state advisory panel for human trafficking.

In October 2015, Governor Cuomo signed the Trafficking Victims Protection and Justice Act and one of the provisions in the legislation establishes the New York State Municipal Police Training Council (MPTC) human trafficking advisory board.  Established to develop policies and procedures, this advisory board will disseminate guidelines that will assist law enforcement agencies to aggressively combat trafficking and address the issues surrounding human trafficking.

Deputy Nietzel is a ten-year law enforcement veteran spending the past five years as an Erie County Deputy Sheriff and she has successfully led the office’s Human Trafficking Unit for the past year.  The human trafficking task force covers much of the western seventeen counties of New York and targets individuals who deal in human trafficking activities including, foreign and domestic labor, and the sex trade.  The task force works with many not-for-profit agencies to aid victims of human trafficking and provide them a safe avenue out of the human trafficking world.