Melanie Tripp stays incredibly busy as owner of Billings, Mont.-based integrator Comtech (Audio, Video and Security) and lead co-chair of the Human Trafficking Prevention and Awareness committee for all of Yellowstone County. She participates in collaboration between task forces across the state of Montana working with the MTDOJ and FBI, local authorities, victims service orgs, state and city elected officials, small businesses, citizens and more.

Additionally, Tripp is president of the local Zonta chapter, which works to empower and uplift women and girls in the community through service projects, scholarships and advocacy particularly in the areas of domestic violence, human trafficking and equal rights.

For the past seven years, she and her team members have donated money and time at events put on by these organizations, she reports. “We have also facilitated a partnership between these and other local organizations to create and co-sponsor events together year-round,” she says.

Comtech Helps Bring Awareness to Human Trafficking

Most recently Comtech helped with Red Sand Human Trafficking awareness campaigns in Yellowstone County and the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) Red Dress Project in Billings.

“Comtech believes working on issues of crime in Montana is extremely relevant to our company mission,” Tripp says. “Fighting crime through security and surveillance is not enough without prevention and awareness.”

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Comtech serves as a lead sponsor and volunteer on many of these projects. Team members donate time and gear for setup/ teardown for audio and speaking events as well as planning events and printing and graphic design for marketing efforts.

“With COVID, this year’s speaking events were virtual. Instead of audio gear, we donated our usual labor and time to help plan events and recently we set up and took down the art exhibit to accompany an MMIP online event,” Tripp says.

“I was also a key team member in the planning and marketing of the virtual (Zoom) event, which included speakers from across the state, the REDress artist and family members of victims. The planning for this event was a year in the making.”

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