In the fight against human trafficking, real change doesn’t start in conference rooms. It starts in the trenches, shoulder to shoulder, with leaders willing to break old patterns and build something better.
In this episode of The Faithful Leader, Dr. Megan Weinkauf sits down with Sergeant Nick Wheeler (Tulsa Police Department) and Leslie Klingenpeel (CEO, The Spring), the leaders behind STORM—the Standardized Trafficking Operations Response Model. Born out of conflict, refined through collaboration, and tested in the field, STORM is reshaping how agencies respond to counter-trafficking operations.
The conversation traces how a tense first encounter between law enforcement and survivor services sparked statewide policy changes, the development of Oklahoma’s human trafficking screening tool, and the birth of a model that has dramatically improved victim engagement.
A quick note for listeners:
For decades, many jurisdictions used what’s known as the call-out model. In this traditional approach, officers encounter a potential trafficking victim during an operation and then “call out” to a separate advocacy agency—often at 2 or 3 AM—hoping someone can come to the scene. Advocates arrive late, without context, and victims often decline help. It’s reactive, inconsistent, and rarely results in trust or long-term engagement.
STORM replaces this entirely. Advocates and law enforcement respond together as a single, multidisciplinary team (MDT) from the very first point of contact. This simple shift has produced extraordinary outcomes: on-scene acceptance of services has increased from under 10 percent in the call-out model to nearly 85 percent under STORM, with more than 55 percent of survivors continuing in long-term support.
You’ll hear powerful insights on:
• Why embedded MDT response outperforms call-outs
• How servant leadership and humility heal historic divides
• The training architecture (13 TLOs / 45 ELOs) that makes collaboration scalable
• Managing burnout, vicarious trauma, and crisis work with integrity
• Why trust—not tactics—is the real force multiplier in counter-trafficking operations
• How to build systems that survive leadership turnover and personality changes
And now, for the first time, STORM is launching through Northeastern State University (NSU). NSU will host the STORM learning platform, making the curriculum accessible for agencies around the globe that want to implement this proven, trauma-informed, multidisciplinary response model in their own communities.
If your agency, task force, or MDT wants to explore implementing STORM or joining a future training cohort, connect with the leaders driving the movement:
Sgt. Nick Wheeler
nwheeler@cityoftulsa.org | LinkedIn
Leslie Klingenpeel
leslie.c@thespringok.org | LinkedIn
Website: https://www.thespringok.org/
This episode is a testament to what’s possible when courage meets collaboration. Whether you’re in law enforcement, community response, survivor services, policy, or leadership at any level, STORM offers a blueprint for building teams that save lives and transform systems.
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