Missing Indigenous women ‘crisis’ the target of new alert system proposal

Indigenous women go missing and are murdered at higher rates than any other ethnic group in the U.S. A new proposal to the Washington state Legislature seeks to solve this problem in part with the creation of an alert system which identifies and locates missing Indigenous women and people.

The system, similar in concept to “silver alerts” for missing vulnerable adults, would broadcast information about missing Indigenous people to advisory radio messages, message signs, as well as send press releases to local and regional media.

Washington state reports 110 active cases of missing Indigenous persons. Indigenous women are four times more likely than white women to go missing, according to the Urban Indian Health Institute in Seattle.

House Bill 1725 is sponsored by Rep. Debra Lekanoff, written with the assistance of Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson.

“The unheard screams of missing and murdered people will be heard across Washington state with the implementation of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) Alert System,” wrote Rep. Lekanoff in a news release. “Too many Indigenous mothers, sisters, wives and daughters have been torn from their families and their children raised without mothers. This crisis impacts every one of our families and communities and it takes collaboration among all governing bodies, law enforcement and media to bring awareness and stop these horrific crimes.”

“The rate of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Washington is a crisis,” Ferguson added. “We must do everything we can to address this problem. This effective tool will help quickly and safely locate missing Indigenous women and people.”

The legislation follows the success of the aforementioned “silver alert” system. Washington is among 37 states using the method designed to locate missing persons. Several of those states report high success rates. Texas, for example, located 48 of 52 missing vulnerable adults in the first year of their implementation of silver alert.

The system was designed in part by the Washington State Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People Task Force. The coalition of tribal partners, grassroots activist and state representatives began meeting in 2021 in a effort to create a cohesive statewide response to the crisis of missing Indigenous people, as well as for those who experience gender-based violence in urban and tribal communities.

State’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women task force starts with emotional stories

The task force will, among other things, assess the systemic causes that contribute to the disproportionate rates of violence, provide recommendations for addressing barriers, and review data collection and reporting protocols. Recognizing that tribal boundaries and communities would have extended far beyond contemporary borders, the task force will also address how the surrounding states and Canada are impacted by jurisdictional and data gaps.

KIRO Radio’s Hanna Scott contributed to this report.

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