Indigenous
missing person
cases get
researchers’
attention
By Susan Montoya
Bryan
Associated Press
A L B U Q U E R Q U E ,
N.M. — A New Mexico
task force charged with
addressing missing person
cases involving Native
Americans is teaming
up with researchers
in Nebraska on a data
collection project that they
hope will begin to close
the gaps when it comes
to tracking cases and their
outcomes nationwide.
The goal of the
federally funded effort is
to better define the scope
of what many experts and
activists have referred to
as a “silent crisis.” The
work began last week, said
Melody Delmar, special
projects coordinator with
the New Mexico Indian
Affairs Department.
One of the challenges
for policymakers across
Indian Country has been
the lack of a consistent
and sustainable system
for reporting and tracking
such cases. Researchers
at the University of
Nebraska-Omaha will
be using a model first
developed for that state
to address data collection
across multiple law enforcement jurisdictions.
It was only last year that
the FBI started publishing
a list of Indigenous people
missing in New Mexico and
the Navajo Nation. That list
took six months to compile
by validating different databases, and Delmar said this
next phase of research will
build on those efforts and
help to guide future policymaking.
“While we’re working at
the higher levels of government and at my level — policy work on the ground level
— we know that people are
still going missing. So we’re
moving full steam ahead,”
she said.
The U.S. Justice
Department’s research and
evaluation arm is funding
the New Mexico project
with a grant worth nearly $250,000. In all, the
National Institute of Justice
awarded six grants totaling nearly $5 million for
research that could help curb
violence against women.
Indigenous families,
activists and advocacy
groups gathered last Friday
and over the weekend to
bring more attention to the
disproportionate number
of tribal community members who have gone missing or have been killed in
North America. While past
studies have shown homicide and violence rates
are exponentially higher
for Native Americans and
Alaska Natives, the number of missing and slain
Indigenous women remains
unknown.
A 2022 congressional
research report highlights
jurisdictional overlaps
among tribal, local, state
and federal police forces as
a top challenge, aside from
the lack of data.
In New Mexico, the state
Department of Public Safety
became the first agency in
the United States to allow
reporting agencies to identify Indigenous people and
their respective tribes, pueblos, or nations. That was
made possible when the
department modified its
National Crime Information
Center.
Delmar and others who
are working on the issue
say the next step for New
Mexico will be consideration of an alert system for
when Indigenous people go
missing, like systems being
developed in California and
now Oklahoma.
“It’s about identifying
what other missing pieces
are there,” she said. “And
I think this is an important part, when we get done
going through the research,
that will help inform what
kind of effective legislation
we can improve on and
work on.”
Nationally, the Urban
Indian Health Institute distributed $1.2 million in
grants last fall for groups to
carry out best practices for
data collection on American
Indians and Alaska Natives.
The institute refers to the
effort as “decolonizing data,”
as inaccurate categorization
and racial misclassification
has led to undercounts when
it comes to representation of
social, economic and health
measures.
Advocates say that has
resulted in fewer resources
being given to Native communities.
In New Mexico’s largest
judicial direct, there are no
extra resources being funneled to prosecutors to work
on Missing and Murdered
Indigenous Persons,
or MMIP, cases. Still,
Bernalillo County District
Attorney Sam Bregman said
the office has dedicated two
staffers to review as many
cases as they can. The special unit has been able to
locate five people since its
creation in December 2021,
he said, but there are 28 still
on the list.
“This is a work in progress, and we continue to
get better at it,” he said.
“And I think from what I’ve
seen, the federal agencies
involved are getting better
at it as well.”
For Denise Billy and
Kayleigh Otero, their work
in the district attorney’s
office starts after cases are
reported to law enforcement. They review the files
and develop profiles that
include the missing person’s
daily routine, whom they
associated with and any
other details the family can
provide — even the smallest
of details.
“That’s something that
me and Denise think about
the most: just really digging deep,” Otero said. “It’s
important work and it’s
work that we’re dedicated
to doing. We don’t just turn
it off when we get to go
home.”
Indigenous
missing person
cases get
researchers’
attention
By Susan Montoya
Bryan
Associated Press
A L B U Q U E R Q U E ,
N.M. — A New Mexico
task force charged with
addressing missing person
cases involving Native
Americans is teaming
up with researchers
in Nebraska on a data
collection project that they
hope will begin to close
the gaps when it comes
to tracking cases and their
outcomes nationwide.
The goal of the
federally funded effort is
to better define the scope
of what many experts and
activists have referred to
as a “silent crisis.” The
work began last week, said
Melody Delmar, special
projects coordinator with
the New Mexico Indian
Affairs Department.
One of the challenges
for policymakers across
Indian Country has been
the lack of a consistent
and sustainable system
for reporting and tracking
such cases. Researchers
at the University of
Nebraska-Omaha will
be using a model first
developed for that state
to address data collection
across multiple law enforcement jurisdictions.
It was only last year that
the FBI started publishing
a list of Indigenous people
missing in New Mexico and
the Navajo Nation. That list
took six months to compile
by validating different databases, and Delmar said this
next phase of research will
build on those efforts and
help to guide future policymaking.
“While we’re working at
the higher levels of government and at my level — policy work on the ground level
— we know that people are
still going missing. So we’re
moving full steam ahead,”
she said.
The U.S. Justice
Department’s research and
evaluation arm is funding
the New Mexico project
with a grant worth nearly $250,000. In all, the
National Institute of Justice
awarded six grants totaling nearly $5 million for
research that could help curb
violence against women.
Indigenous families,
activists and advocacy
groups gathered last Friday
and over the weekend to
bring more attention to the
disproportionate number
of tribal community members who have gone missing or have been killed in
North America. While past
studies have shown homicide and violence rates
are exponentially higher
for Native Americans and
Alaska Natives, the number of missing and slain
Indigenous women remains
unknown.
A 2022 congressional
research report highlights
jurisdictional overlaps
among tribal, local, state
and federal police forces as
a top challenge, aside from
the lack of data.
In New Mexico, the state
Department of Public Safety
became the first agency in
the United States to allow
reporting agencies to identify Indigenous people and
their respective tribes, pueblos, or nations. That was
made possible when the
department modified its
National Crime Information
Center.
Delmar and others who
are working on the issue
say the next step for New
Mexico will be consideration of an alert system for
when Indigenous people go
missing, like systems being
developed in California and
now Oklahoma.
“It’s about identifying
what other missing pieces
are there,” she said. “And
I think this is an important part, when we get done
going through the research,
that will help inform what
kind of effective legislation
we can improve on and
work on.”
Nationally, the Urban
Indian Health Institute distributed $1.2 million in
grants last fall for groups to
carry out best practices for
data collection on American
Indians and Alaska Natives.
The institute refers to the
effort as “decolonizing data,”
as inaccurate categorization
and racial misclassification
has led to undercounts when
it comes to representation of
social, economic and health
measures.
Advocates say that has
resulted in fewer resources
being given to Native communities.
In New Mexico’s largest
judicial direct, there are no
extra resources being funneled to prosecutors to work
on Missing and Murdered
Indigenous Persons,
or MMIP, cases. Still,
Bernalillo County District
Attorney Sam Bregman said
the office has dedicated two
staffers to review as many
cases as they can. The special unit has been able to
locate five people since its
creation in December 2021,
he said, but there are 28 still
on the list.
“This is a work in progress, and we continue to
get better at it,” he said.
“And I think from what I’ve
seen, the federal agencies
involved are getting better
at it as well.”
For Denise Billy and
Kayleigh Otero, their work
in the district attorney’s
office starts after cases are
reported to law enforcement. They review the files
and develop profiles that
include the missing person’s
daily routine, whom they
associated with and any
other details the family can
provide — even the smallest
of details.
“That’s something that
me and Denise think about
the most: just really digging deep,” Otero said. “It’s
important work and it’s
work that we’re dedicated
to doing. We don’t just turn
it off when we get to go
home.”