FBI Boston Honors Dr. Abigail Judge with Director’s Community Leadership Award
On Friday, April 19, 2024, FBI Director Christopher Wray and FBI Boston Division Special Agent in Charge Jodi Cohen honored Dr. Abigail Judge with the FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award (DCLA) in recognition for her service to survivors of sex trafficking.
This award was established in 1990 to publicly acknowledge the achievements of those working to make a difference in their communities through the promotion of education and the prevention of crime and violence. Every year, one person or organization from each of the FBI’s 56 field offices are chosen to receive this prestigious award.
Dr. Judge is a clinical psychologist and faculty member at Harvard Medical School. She founded Boston Human Exploitation and Trafficking (HEAT), a collaboration between Massachusetts General Hospital and the Boston Police Department’s Human Trafficking Unit aimed at helping women at the intersection of substance use disorder and sex trafficking. Through HEAT, Dr. Judge and her team engage sexually exploited women through street, jail, and hospital outreach, and a specialized nighttime drop-in space.
FBI Boston Special Agent in Charge Jodi Cohen presents Dr. Abigail Judge with the 2023 FBI Director's Community Leadership Award. Left to right: Boston Police Sgt. Marc Sullivan, Special Agent in Charge Jodi Cohen, Dr. Abigail Judge, and FBI Boston Supervisory Special Agent Eric Slaton
In 2020, Boston HEAT partnered with the Boston Police Department’s Human Trafficking Unit and FBI Boston’s Child Exploitation–Human Trafficking Task Force to reimagine contact with law enforcement as an opportunity for immediate engagement with services rather than arrest. This 15-month pilot program resulted in referrals of more than 60 victims of sex trafficking to services, and continues to grow. Additionally, in 2023, Dr. Judge, in collaboration with the Boston Police Department’s Human Trafficking Unit, established a private location that provides basic supplies as well as access to services, respite, and community.
Under Dr. Judge’s leadership, Boston HEAT has increased trust between trafficked persons and law enforcement in Boston, expanded access to on demand mental health and addiction services, and demonstrated the promise of clinical, peer, and law enforcement collaboration.
“Sex trafficking can occur in any community and does serious lasting harm to its victims. No one understands that more than Dr. Judge and her team at Boston HEAT,” said Jodi Cohen, special agent in charge of the FBI Boston Division. “Today, we honor Dr. Judge’s dedication and commitment to working with us, and the community to help victims escape this cycle of vicious abuse and provide them with access to vital resources. Meanwhile, FBI Boston’s Child Exploitation–Human Trafficking Task Force will continue to work every day to bring the predators who viciously abuse them to justice.”
“One of our most important priorities is to build trust to support and protect victims and the vulnerable. We are grateful to Dr. Abigail Judge for her passion and service to women who are being exploited. Thanks to Dr. Judge, the Boston Human Exploitation and Trafficking (HEAT) collaboration, which she founded between Massachusetts General Hospital and the Boston Police Department’s Human Trafficking Unit, has allowed our officers to help survivors find safety, community and needed services. Dr. Judge’s continued efforts to engage and support sexually exploited individuals has increased collaboration and changed the lives of those we serve who are survivors of Human Trafficking. We appreciate the FBI taking this opportunity to honor Dr. Judge,” said Police Commissioner Michael Cox, Boston Police Department
Director Wray hosted this year’s DCLA winners in a special ceremony at FBI Headquarters today, emphasizing the importance of partnerships in keeping our shared communities safe. These partnerships—as exemplified by the breadth of the work by the DCLA recipients—have led to a host of crime prevention programs that protect the most vulnerable in our communities, educate families and businesses about cyber threats, and work to reduce violent crime in our neighborhoods.
"Our success as both a law enforcement and an intelligence agency hinge on our ability to foster and maintain genuine partnerships with people in all communities,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “People like this year’s Leadership Award recipients not only identify what others need, but they are willing to roll up their sleeves and provide services. They are building bridges and relationships while putting in the work to have hard conversations and find common purpose. They do it out of kindness and compassion with a sincere belief that justice—in its many forms—requires all of us to do the right thing in the right way."
Director Wray recognized Dr. Judge during the DCLA ceremony on April 22, 2024, at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
