ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law that creates a statewide data repository for human trafficking. Florida is the third in the nation for reported cases.

This initiative will be the first database of its kind in Florida, requiring state agencies to provide certain anonymous information about human-trafficking victims.

University of South Florida Prof. Joan Reid is spearheading the project. She has been researching the issue for 13 years.

"It's my passion," Reid said.

Reid gets a lot of her statistics about victims from a national hotline. In 2021, records showed there were 3,000 calls regarding human trafficking.

"It's a number," Reid said. "It's helpful."

Reid said the statistics would be more accurate if she could get information from statewide agencies, including law enforcement and the courts. But she said it's challenging to get those agencies to release the information.

The new law will require agencies to provide anonymous information for the statewide database.

"That's the great thing about the bill is that it pushes this forward," Reid said.

The project will be based out of USF in St. Petersburg and funded by the university. Reid and her students will be working out of the school's "Trafficking In Persons — Risk To Resilience Research Lab."

Reid, who is the director of the lab, said they have two years to collect and present information to the state about human trafficking in Florida.