Congressional Hearings
MISSING AND MURDERED: CONFRONTING THE SILENT CRISIS IN INDIAN COUNTRY
Congressional Hearings
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Congress: Senate
CHRG-115shrg36338
| AUTHORITYID | CHAMBER | TYPE | COMMITTEENAME |
|---|---|---|---|
| slia00 | S | O | Committee on Indian Affairs |
[Senate Hearing 115-611]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 115-611
MISSING AND MURDERED: CONFRONTING THE SILENT CRISIS IN INDIAN COUNTRY
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
DECEMBER 12, 2018
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Indian Affairs
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
36-338 PDF WASHINGTON : 2019
COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS
JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota, Chairman
TOM UDALL, New Mexico, Vice Chairman
JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming MARIA CANTWELL, Washington
LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska JON TESTER, Montana,
JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii
STEVE DAINES, Montana HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota
MIKE CRAPO, Idaho CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO, Nevada
JERRY MORAN, Kansas TINA SMITH, Minnesota
JON KYL, Arizona
T. Michael Andrews, Majority Staff Director and Chief Counsel
Jennifer Romero, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel
C O N T E N T S
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Page
Hearing held on December 12, 2018................................ 1
Statement of Senator Barrasso.................................... 3
Statement of Senator Cantwell.................................... 9
Statement of Senator Cortez Masto................................ 26
Statement of Senator Daines...................................... 8
Statement of Senator Heitkamp.................................... 7
Statement of Senator Hoeven...................................... 1
Statement of Senator Murkowski................................... 5
Statement of Senator Smith....................................... 31
Statement of Senator Tester...................................... 4
Statement of Senator Udall....................................... 2
Witnesses
Addington, Charles, Director, Office of Justice Services, Bureau
of Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior............. 9
Prepared statement........................................... 11
Alexander, Patricia, Co-Chair, Violence Against Women Task Force,
Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska... 43
Prepared statement........................................... 45
Crotty, Hon. Amber, Delegate, Navajo Nation Council.............. 34
Prepared statement........................................... 36
Johnson, Robert, Assistant Director, Criminal Investigative
Division, Federal Bureau of Investigations, U.S. Department of
Justice........................................................ 13
Prepared statement........................................... 13
LaPorte, Gerald, Director, Office of Investigative and Forensic
Sciences, National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of
Justice........................................................ 15
Prepared statement........................................... 17
Loring-Heavy Runner, Kimberly, Missoula, MT...................... 50
Prepared statement........................................... 52
Appendix
Response to written questions submitted by Hon. Catherine Cortez
Masto to Patricia Alexander.................................... 68
Response to written questions submitted by Hon. Tom Udall to:
Patricia Alexander........................................... 67
Kimberly Loring-Heavy Runner................................. 67
MISSING AND MURDERED: CONFRONTING THE SILENT CRISIS IN INDIAN COUNTRY
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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2018
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Indian Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:49 p.m. in room
628, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. John Hoeven,
Chairman of the Committee, presiding.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN HOEVEN,
U.S. SENATOR FROM NORTH DAKOTA
The Chairman. Good afternoon. We will call the hearing to
order. Thank you for coming today.
Today, the Committee will hold its last oversight hearing
this Congress on the very important topic of missing and
murdered individuals in Indian Country. This matter involves
Indian children, youth, men and women, and affects tribal
communities across the Country.
The Departments of Justice and the Interior are required to
investigate and prosecute homicides committed against or by
Indians on tribal lands. However, it is less clear who has the
responsibility for investigating cases of missing indigenous
individuals. This lack of clarity has left tribes and families
unsure of who to call for help, and has contributed to a lack
of knowledge on the scope of the problem. Families want justice
and closure and tribal leaders want answers and support.
During this Congress, the Committee has held oversight and
legislative hearings related to the issue of public safety, law
enforcement, victim services and human trafficking in Indian
Country. The Committee has also worked to enhance public safety
through initiatives such as the Ashlynne Mike Amber Alert in
Indian Country Act, which is now public law; S. 1953, the
Tribal Law and Order Act Reauthorization; S. 1870, the Securing
Urgent Resources Vital to Indian Victim Empowerment, or SURVIVE
Act; S. 1942, Savanna's Act; S. Resolution 401, National Day of
Awareness for Missing and Murdered Native Women and Girls; and
the Commissioning of GAO Oversight on Human Trafficking of
Native Americans.
This Committee has made it a priority to improve public
safety in Indian Country. There are many other initiatives that
we can discuss. However, there is much more work to be done.
From the data received from the Department of Justice,
American Indian and Alaska Natives experience some of the
highest victimization rates when compared to other population
groups. It is past time that we understand the scope of the
problem and work toward viable solutions.
Today we will hear from multiple Federal agencies on how
they are working to better handle cases of missing and murdered
individuals. I look forward to hearing from our witnesses
today. I want to thank each of them for being here, especially
those joining us from the Department of Justice, FBI, National
Institute of Justice, Department of Interior and others. It is
important for Indian Country to hear from you.
Before we turn to their testimony, I want to ask Vice
Chairman Udall for his opening statement.
STATEMENT OF HON. TOM UDALL,
U.S. SENATOR FROM NEW MEXICO
Senator Udall. Thank you so much, Chairman Hoeven, for
holding this oversight hearing on missing and murdered
indigenous people. Today's hearing is an important step toward
fully understand the scope and working to address the crisis in
Indian Country.
To begin with, I would like to extend a special welcome to
one of our witnesses, Navajo National Council Delegate, Amber
Crotty. Delegate Crotty has been and continues to be a great
advocate for the Navajo Nation and for Native women. Thanks to
you and each of the witnesses for joining us on such an
important discussion.
I would also like to acknowledge Deb Haaland of New
Mexico's Laguna Pueblo, who also happens to be Representative-
Elect for New Mexico's First Congressional District, and who
was just appointed to the House Democratic Steering Committee.
I know Deb will bring her commitment to ending violence against
Native women with her to D.C. next Congress, and I look forward
to working with Deb and other members of the New Mexico
delegation on ending the MMIW crisis and making Indian Country
safer. They are both sitting there right in the front row. Deb
is on the front row and Amber is right next to her there.
In the 115th Congress, this Committee has held a number of
oversight hearings on Federal law enforcement efforts and crime
responses in Indian Country, including human trafficking and
juvenile justice. We have also received testimony on
legislation, including Senator Hoeven's SURVIVE Act, and
Senator Heitkamp's Savanna's Act, both of which would go a long
way toward providing tribes the tools necessary to improve
tribal-State-Federal law enforcement coordination.
We learned from these hearings that three core issues, poor
coordination, limited data and insufficient resources are
slowing progress in all aspects of improving tribal public
safety. For the MMIW crisis in particular, these issues are
unfortunately no different. Poor coordination strains the
resources of already over-extended law enforcement agencies.
Under-resourced MMIW responses, in turn, have a negative effect
on coordination efforts and the ability to gather accurate
data. Limited-to-zero data reporting means communities won't
know where to target resources, and lack of coordination will
continue unabated.
All three issues pose barriers and lead to fewer answers,
fewer solved cases and fewer Native families seeing justice
served. And most notably, all three hinder the Federal
Government's obligation to meet its trust and treaty
obligations to tribes.
It is absolutely crucial we address these gaps for missing
and murdered indigenous women, and improve Federal policies to
make better progress. Today's hearing will the Committee's last
of the 115th Congress. It is an opportunity to refocus on an
area that has drawn much of the Committee's attention over the
last two years, public safety and violence against Native
women.
With three hearings, a listening session and numerous bills
on these topics, we have seen this Committee's dedication to
making every member of every Native community safer. Despite
this work, and this should not be a surprise to anyone, we will
hear the witnesses today calling on the Committee to do more.
No ifs, ands, buts about it, we must do more.
Our work this Congress has been important. But we need to
redouble our efforts and our commitment to all the tribal
leaders and stakeholders here today and listening in. Thank you
for your work and advocacy on these very important issues.
Congress needs to hear directly from those undertaking the
daily work at the grass roots level to combat violence against
Native women. We must continue to have MMIW a front and center
issue. Your contributions here today help strengthen the call
to do just that.
And Mr. Chairman, thank you once again for holding this
hearing.
The Chairman. Thank you, Vice Chairman Udall. Senator
Barrasso.
STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN BARRASSO,
U.S. SENATOR FROM WYOMING
Senator Barrasso. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, for an
opportunity to say a few words before we hear from our
witnesses today. I appreciate very much your holding a hearing
on this very important topic.
Mr. Chairman, all of us on this Committee are painfully
aware of the impact that violence has in tribal communities all
across the Country. In 2016, the Department of Justice issued a
report that said that four out of five American Indian and
Alaska Native men and women have experienced violence at least
once.
Last September, this Committee held a hearing on two GAO
reports on human trafficking of Native Americans. Senator
Tester and I requested the reports when we were chairman and
vice chairman of this Committee, because there was a complete
lack of information related to human trafficking impacts in
Indian Country. That GAO report showed that of 6,100
investigations, and 1,000 prosecutions of human trafficking in
the United States during the years 2013 to 2016, only 14 of the
investigations and only two of the Federal prosecutions
involved an American Indian or Alaska Native individual.
As I said during that hearing last September, the fact that
there were so few cases involving Indian Country didn't tell me
that human trafficking was not a problem. Instead, it seemed
obvious to me that the crimes are significantly under-reported,
under-investigated and under-prosecuted. Seems the same as the
case here.
Ms. Loring-Heavy Runner, I appreciate your being with us
here today to share your story, which is your sister's story. I
am so sorry for the pain you have had to endure as you continue
to search for your sister. Stories like Ashley's are all too
common. The missing and murdered are sisters, fathers, mothers,
sons; the losses are horrific. That they are not represented in
the data is also horrific.
This Committee has undertaken a number of efforts to ensure
tribes have access to Federal data bases and are able to
coordinate with Federal officials. As recent cases have shown
us, often we do not have the data to understand the scope of
the effect that violent crime has in Indian Country because the
data does not paint a clear or accurate picture of tribal
affiliation.
Understanding the scope of the problem is just the first
step. As a Committee and as a community, we must have this
information so we can accurately identify risk factors that
exacerbate violent crime in tribal communities.
Not long ago, this Committee discussed opioid addiction and
addiction prevention measures. In that hearing, I raised the
need to work together as communities to address addiction. I
think the same applies when discussing violent crime.
Commitment at the community level is key to successful
coordination of Federal, State and tribal tools.
I look forward to hearing from you, Ms. Alexander, about
your experience in Alaska, and how your work can help us here
today.
Mr. Chairman, no family should have to wonder whether their
loved one will ever be found. And in the horrible cases where a
loved one becomes a victim of violent crime, they should be
represented in the statistics and data sets that will help
shape policy to help prevent future losses.
I want to thank each of our witnesses today for their
commitment to public safety in Indian Country and their work to
provide answers to so many families. I look forward to hearing
the suggestions in how we can work better together.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The Chairman. Senator Tester.
STATEMENT OF HON. JON TESTER,
U.S. SENATOR FROM MONTANA
Senator Tester. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank
you and the ranking member for holding this hearing today on
the MMIW. It is critically important.
I want to also thank Senator Heitkamp for bringing this
issue up early in this Congress, and our leadership here is
very, very much appreciated.
We are here today because we have an epidemic on our hands.
Native Americans in Montana and across this Country are dealing
with violence at a much higher rate than the rest of the
population. Too much violence has gone unreported, and when
that violence has been reported, it has gone unchallenged, with
no resolution. This must change. It deserves this Committee's
full attention. I think it deserves Congress' full attention.
I met with folks in Missoula earlier this year. One of
those folks is Briana Lamb, a strong local advocate. She is
with us here today. They told me that since the first of the
year, almost two dozen Native Americans have gone missing in
Montana alone. At that time, only one had been found. There is
more than that has been missing now at this date. I think only
two have been found. One has passed, one had been killed and
the other was found alive.
You cannot step foot in Indian Country without hearing a
heartbreaking story about this growing problem. That is why we
are here today. We need to know exactly what is happening and
exactly what can happen to solve this problem. Because these
are people, these are families, these are communities that our
law enforcement agencies need to look out for.
Ms. Loring-Heavy Runner, you have been talked about all day
today. Thank you for being here. I appreciate your advocacy and
hopefully the issue with your sister can be resolved in a very,
very positive way. But the fact is right now, there are way too
many unknowns in that particular case. You know that better
than anybody.
We have legislation to pass, and we can do that to help
with this epidemic. But really, this first panel's going to be
critically important. Because number one, I want to know if you
think there is a problem, number two, what can we do to solve
the problem. Because I am telling you, 24 doesn't sound like a
lot, but in a State of a million people, if you put that out to
the population, that would be a ton of folks. We have to find a
solution to this. It simply cannot go on as it has gone on for
the last number of years.
The Chairman. Senator Murkowski.
STATEMENT OF HON. LISA MURKOWSKI,
U.S. SENATOR FROM ALASKA
Senator Murkowski. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Vice
Chairman Udall. Thank you for scheduling this very, very
important hearing to address the issue of missing and murdered
American Indians and Alaska Natives. To Senator Heitkamp, I
know that this is probably your last hearing before this great
Committee. I want to thank you for your work on the Committee,
but more importantly, for the work that you have done in
leading all of on this very important issue of how we do better
by our Native women.
The threats to their safety, the threats to their families,
and then knowing when some awful, awful tragedy befalls them
that oftentimes the effort to bring perpetrators to justice, or
to even find out what happened in the matter is just left
unattended. So it is tragedy compounded on tragedy. So thank
you for raising the awareness. You know that your work is not
done, you know that we will all be working with you as we pay
attention to these critical, critical issues.
I want to acknowledge all those who are with us on both
panels. I want to particularly welcome our witness from Alaska,
Patricia Alexander. She is Tlingit, she is from Sitka, Alaska.
She is co-chair of the Violence Against Women Task Force of the
Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. As
Pat will probably share in her testimony, Tlingit Haida is a
federally-recognized tribal government in Alaska. It has over,
I think it is about 30,000 citizens within. You serve 20
villages and communities. And this is spread out over an area
of 43,000 miles. This is roughly the size of the State of
Louisiana.
So it is big, it is difficult to get around. There are no
roads between the communities. You are either there by boat or
by airplane. The reality is, when there is an emergency, it
really is the State troopers that may be miles and miles away,
but those are air miles, those are boat miles. And the ability
to respond in these emergency situations is very, very limited.
I am reminded of the tragic death of young woman by the
name of Mackenzie Howard. Mackenzie was found murdered in the
small community, southeastern community of Kake. Kake has about
500 people in it right now. Mackenzie was 13 years old when she
was found murdered in the church doorway, the church doorway
there of the village. Kake did not have law enforcement
presence at the time, so the Kake tribal president, without any
badge, without any real jurisdiction, had to post volunteers to
guard the body, because it was a crime scene. Guard the body
until the State troopers came.
The State troopers came the following day. For 16 hours, in
a small village, to have to stand guard over the body of a 13-
year old girl who has been murdered, this shocks a community.
It shocks a people. But that was what was necessary in order to
collect the body and the evidence, so that there could be a
case made going forward.
In Alaska, we have what we call VPSOs, village public
safety officers. They are often the first and really the only
responder in the communities. The harsh reality is that in
communities like Kake all over the State, we have numerous
rural communities that are hundreds of miles away from the
nearest community with a VPSO or a member of law enforcement.
You compound that with the fact that many of these
communities don't have a 911 service to speak of. In the event
that you do, if you call 911 or local law enforcement, you are
likely to get an answering machine if you get anything at all.
So these are some things that we take for granted back here in
a city, in our larger communities. But that is not the reality
of far too many in a state that I represent.
I was in the community of Kotzebue, a large Native
community up in northwest Alaska. I was there in the fall to be
at a memorial service for a ten-year old girl, Ashley Johnson-
Barr, who had been abducted and murdered. Her remains were
found just outside of the community of Kotzebue. But it was a
multi-day community search to find her. Being there for her
funeral was just a very stark reminder to me that these
incidents, these are not statistics. These are children, these
are young women, these are friends, these are sisters,
daughters, neighbors. You are right, Senator Tester, we have to
be doing more. We all know that.
So the effort to shine the light on this is important. But
we kind of know that it is bad out there. So let's figure out
how we stop the bad and take action. Because too many children
are those that are among the missing.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate it.
The Chairman. Senator Heitkamp.
STATEMENT OF HON. HEIDI HEITKAMP,
U.S. SENATOR FROM NORTH DAKOTA
Senator Heitkamp. Lisa is absolutely right. This is not to
discover if we have a problem, but to discover the extent of
the problem, which as we know from a lot of evidence and a lot
of discussion with people in Indian Country, when on Standing
Rock, two friends can sit down and come up with 25 names. When
you talk to the victim service people at Mandan Hidatsa and
Arikara Nation and she knows just within 18 months five women
who were killed and murdered, within 18 months. I would just
suggest to you, that is a population of about 2,400 women.
Think about the percentage homicide rate.
So we know we have a problem. The question is, are we
willing to stand up and do something about it? Savanna's Act,
as we said during the markup, when we advanced it, is only that
first step. It is only as good as you guys. It is only as good
as your commitment to solving this problem, which is why we are
in this hearing.
I want to say just frankly, I just did a Skype with an
amazing 12th grade senior class, well, that high school. And a
young woman said, ``How is it going with Savanna's Act?'' Young
women and Indian people across the Country are watching us.
They want to know that we are listening, that we are going to
do something.
So the purpose of this hearing is not to talk about whether
we have a problem. It is to talk about what you are going to do
about it. Because it has been ignored too long, and please,
don't say you share our concern, because we need to see action.
We need to see commitment. We need to see that this is going to
be your top priority.
I have said this over and over again, and I will make this
my last comment. You are the cop on the beat for major crimes
in my State and Indian Country. You are the cop on the beat.
When these crimes go uninvestigated, when they go unsolved for
long, long periods of time or ignored for long, long periods of
time, that is your failure. It is not the community's failure,
it is your failure.
And no cop and no law enforcement official wants to have
unsolved cases. Just because people have been marginalized
historically does not mean that we are going to tolerate this
going forward.
So I want to thank the chairman and the vice chairman for
making this priority. I know many of you, and I know what is in
your heart. But you need to tell us if you need more resources.
You need to tell us. Because you are the point of
accountability.
So I look forward to working with all of you in some other
capacity as we move this forward. I again thank everyone for
the attention.
But I will tell you, there is a lot of people in this room
that the eyes of Indian men and women in Indian Country are on
you. And they are on us to do something about this problem.
The Chairman. Senator Daines.
STATEMENT OF HON. STEVE DAINES,
U.S. SENATOR FROM MONTANA
Senator Daines. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
When we think about Indian Country in Montana, we think
about the beauty, the vibrant culture, and tragically the
challenge of missing and murdered Native and indigenous women
that we will talk about here today. That is why I requested
this hearing several weeks ago.
I have recommended we hear directly from Montanans like
Kimberly Loring-Heavy Runner about the tragedy they are facing.
Kimberly is sitting right here, in fact, next to her cousin,
Alyssa, as well. They were in my office yesterday. Thank you
for the discussion that we had yesterday, talking about
specifically the case and frankly, a lot of dropped balls in
the investigation.
Native American women face murder rates more than ten times
the national average murder rates. If these numbers were seen
in any other community, there would be far greater public
outcry. For too long, the stories of these women and girls has
gone unheard. We are going to hear about it today.
Today, we are going to hear first-hand accounts on the
widespread effect this epidemic is having on our tribal
communities and as mentioned, a first-hand account from
Kimberly Loring-Heavy Runner about her sister, Ashley, still
missing from June of 2017. Her case is still unresolved despite
multiple leads and evidence.
This year, we passed a resolution--I introduce it every
year--to make May 5th a national day of awareness of missing
and murdered Native women and girls. Why May 5th? It is May 5th
because that is the birthday of Hanna Harris from the Northern
Cheyenne Reservation, northern Cheyenne Tribe. Hanna was 21
years old with a 10-month old baby when she was murdered. May
5th is her birthday.
I remember when we launched this, I was in Lame Deer on the
Northern Cheyenne Reservation, marching with Hanna Harris' mom.
Nobody should have to bury a daughter. Nobody should have to
have a little grandbaby to raise because their mother was
murdered.
In this Congress, we have also passed the reauthorization
of the Tribal Law and Order Act and the SURVIVE Act. Both bills
will help expand access to data and programs in Indian Country
to help take on this issue. I also introduced the Mitigating
Meth Act to help fight the substance abuse problems we see in
Indian Country. One of the contributing factors, I was chatting
with Kimberly and her cousin Alyssa yesterday. There is no
doubt drugs, perhaps meth, plays a contributing factor in this
tragedy. Many of these crimes are drug-related. Meth is driving
violent crime across this Country, and we see it as a very
great problem in Indian Country.
We must put a stop to these trends. We do all we can to
foster a safe, thriving Native American community.
I want to thank the Chairman and the Vice Chairman for
holding this hearing. I look forward to today's discussion.
The Chairman. Senator Cantwell.
STATEMENT OF HON. MARIA CANTWELL,
U.S. SENATOR FROM WASHINGTON
Senator Cantwell. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I know that
there is a vote on, and I will try to be brief so we can get to
the witnesses. I thank my colleagues for their impassioned
discussion already about this. I certainly want to thank
Senator Heitkamp for her leadership. Clearly, her leadership on
this Committee, particularly with Savanna's Act and many other
issues related to Indian Country, will sorely be missed. I want
to thank her for all of that leadership.
We know that one in every five women will experience sexual
assault in their lifetime in Indian Country. But that isn't
often highlighted. Native women face many barriers that can
prevent the perpetrators from being convicted. The Seattle
Indian Health Board recently released a report that showed just
how serious this issue is. The report found that nationwide,
there are 506 cases of murdered or missing Native American
women. The report found that City of Seattle is the highest in
the Nation with the total number of missing individuals. But
Tacoma was not far down the list.
So this is an issue that the State of Washington, along
with my colleagues who have already spoken, show that this is
an issue across the west that many, many people want to see
serious action to address. It is one of the reasons that not
only am I proud to sponsor the Savanna's Act with my
colleagues, that will help us in improving the reporting, but
we need to do something, Mr. Chairman, now, to get this over
the goal line in this session.
I hope that we will make this a priority, and I look
forward to working with my colleagues on many aspects of this
problem, and listening to our witnesses today. Thank you.
The Chairman. Senator Cortez Masto, did you have anything?
Senator Cortez Masto. No, thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The Chairman. We will proceed with our witnesses, then. Our
witnesses today are Mr. Charles Addington, Deputy Associate
Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs, office of Justice Services,
Washington, D.C. Thank you. Mr. Robert Johnson, Assistant
Director of the Criminal Investigative Division, Federal Bureau
of Investigations, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Welcome. Mr.
Gerald LaPorte, Director, Office of Investigative and Forensic
Sciences, National Institute of Justice, Washington, D.C.
We have a vote on right now, so members will be coming and
going a little bit. But if you would please proceed with your
opening statements, starting with Mr. Addington.
STATEMENT OF CHARLES ADDINGTON, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF JUSTICE
SERVICES, BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Mr. Addington. Good afternoon, Chairman Hoeven, Vice
Chairman Udall and members of the Committee.
My name is Charles Addington. I am the Director of the
Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services, at the
Department of the Interior. Thank you for the opportunity to
provide a statement before this Committee on the crisis of
missing persons and murdered victims in Indian Country. More
than half of Native American women have been sexually
assaulted, including over a third have been raped during their
lifetime, a rate of rape nearly two and a half times higher
than white women, according to the 2016 National Institute of
Justice study.
With indigenous women and girls facing alarming levels of
violence across the Country, more can be done to support
meaningful efforts to address the high rates of violence in
Indian Country. Although the Violence Against Women and the
Tribal Law and Order Act have helped bring attention to the
high rate of violence and have begun to address gaps in law
enforcement for tribes and Federal authorities, there remain
gaps in data that exacerbate the crisis of missing and murdered
indigenous women. These challenges are present across multiple
sectors. They are particularly problematic in the context of
criminal justice in which Federal, State, tribal and local
governments share responsibilities.
It is important to continue efforts to build accurate data
and provide Congress, the public and most importantly, the
tribes, with the information needed to identify and analyze the
criminal justice needs in Indian Country. These data gaps
impact how law enforcement officials handle or follow up on
these cases, predominantly due to under-reporting, racial
misclassification, potential gender or racial bias, and a lack
of law enforcement resources required to follow through and
close out cases appropriately.
In 2017, Urban Indian Health Institute surveyed 71 cities
across the U.S. to collect data on murdered and missing
indigenous women and girls in urban settings. The Institute's
survey and analysis of the collected data culminated in their
2018 report, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls,
which highlights some of the challenges of data collection with
respect to American Indian and Alaska Natives in urban
populations.
For Indian Country, BIA collects monthly crime statistics
from tribal and BIA law enforcement programs and submits the
information to the Federal Bureau of Information each quarter.
The information collected is specific to the data required for
the FBI Uniform Crime Report, which currently does not track
missing persons or domestic violence statistics.
In light of these significant data collection challenges
facing missing and murdered indigenous persons, BIA has
partnered with the DOJ's Missing and Unidentified Persons
system, a program of the National Institute of Justice to
create new data fields in their system to specifically capture
tribal affiliation data. The new fields are expected to be
operational after January 1st, 2019. This will assist law
enforcement agencies across the jurisdictions with tracking and
investigating missing persons throughout the Country.
Moving forward, better interagency coordination and
cooperation is needed to improve the integrity of data
collection. While it widely believe that there may be a
correlation between opioid and other narcotic abuse and human
trafficking, domestic violence and missing and murdered
indigenous women, without sufficient data it is difficult to
draw solid conclusions. Federal agencies must develop concrete
solutions to improve agency data collection to ensure these
crimes are being tracked and investigated appropriately, so
that any trends can be properly identified and addressed.
For example, adding these types of incidents to the data
collection by DOJ and BIA in making the data submissions
mandatory from all law enforcement agencies. This would be a
great start to addressing the data collecting problem.
BIA has also begun efforts to raise awareness and provide
training to Indian Country law enforcement personnel. In
January 2018, the BIA-Indian Police Academy began discussions
with the National Criminal Justice Training Center on
collaborating to create joint training programs for cold case
investigations, long-term missing investigations and child
abduction investigations for use throughout Indian Country.
To specifically address the missing person aspect of this
issue, earlier this year, BIA-Indian Police Academy launched
human trafficking courses in the Indian Country Police Officer
training program, the Basic Police Officer Bridge Training
Program and the Indian Country Criminal Investigative Program.
In February, 2018, the National Criminal Justice Training
Center and the BIA-Police Academy identified dates and
locations for three pilot training programs on advance cold
cases, long-term missing investigations in Montana and North
Dakota. The three training programs were held at the Blackfeet
Tribe in Montana and Three Affiliated Tribes in New Town, North
Dakota. The three training programs were held at Blackfeet,
Montana and New Town, North Dakota. A total of 117 personnel
were trained in these programs.
The BIA-Indian Police Academy is also scheduled to
participate in the assessment of a National Criminal Justice
Training Center project to create a web/mobile-capable
investigative guide for tribal first responders on endangered
missing and abducted persons.
As I have outlined here today, BIA Office of Justice
Services has taken numerous steps this year to create a number
of solutions to address the crisis of missing persons and
murder victims in Indian Country. We look forward to working
with our other Federal and tribal partners to collaborate on
sound solutions to protect and serve our Native men, women, and
children.
Again, thank you for the opportunity to provide a statement
and my written testimony will be provided for the record. I am
happy to answer any questions the Committee may have.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Addington follows:]
Prepared Statement of Charles Addington, Director, Office of Justice
Services, Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior
Good afternoon, Chairman Hoeven, Vice Chairman Udall, and members
of the Committee. My name is Charles Addington and I am the Director of
the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Office of Justice Services (OJS) at
the Department of the Interior (Department). Thank you for the
opportunity to provide a statement before this Committee on the crisis
of missing persons and murder victims in Indian Country.
More than half of Native American women have been sexually
assaulted, including over a third who have been raped during their
lifetime--a rate of rape nearly 2.5 times higher than for white women,
according to a 2016 National Institute of Justice study. \1\ With
indigenous women and girls facing alarming levels of violence across
the country, more can be done to support meaningful efforts to address
the high rates of violence in Indian Country.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ National Institute of Justice, Violence Against American Indian
and Alaska Native Women and Men.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Although the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and the Tribal Law
and Order Act (TLOA) have helped bring attention to this high rate of
violence and have begun to address gaps in law enforcement for tribes
and federal authorities, there remain gaps in data that exacerbate the
crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women. These challenges are
present across multiple sectors, but are particularly problematic in
the context of criminal justice, in which Federal, state, tribal, and
local governments share responsibilities. It is important to continue
efforts to build accurate data and provide Congress, the public, and,
most importantly, the tribes, with the information needed to identify
and analyze the criminal justice needs in Indian Country.
These data gaps impact how law enforcement officials handle or
follow up on these cases, predominantly due to underreporting, racial
misclassification, potential gender or racial bias and a lack of law
enforcement resources required to follow through and close out cases
appropriately.
In 2017, the Urban Indian Health Institute surveyed 71 cities
across the U.S. to collect data on murdered and missing indigenous
women and girls in urban settings. The Institute's survey and analysis
of the collected data culminated in their 2018 report, Missing and
Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which highlights some of the
challenges of data collection with respect to American Indian and
Alaska Native populations in urban populations.
For Indian Country, BIA collects monthly crime statistics from
Tribal and BIA law enforcement programs and submits the information to
the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) each quarter. The information
collected is specific to the data required for the FBI Uniform Crime
Report (UCR), which currently does not track missing persons or
domestic violence statistics.
In light of these significant data collection challenges facing
missing and murdered indigenous persons, BIA has partnered with DOJ's
Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs), a program of the
National Institute of Justice to create new data fields in their system
to specifically capture tribal affiliation data. The new fields are
expected to be operational after January 1, 2019. This will assist law
enforcement agencies across jurisdictions with tracking and
investigating missing persons throughout the country.
Going forward, better inter-agency coordination and cooperation is
needed to improve the integrity of the data collected. While it is
widely believed that there may be a correlation between opioid and
other narcotics abuse, human trafficking, and domestic violence and
missing and murdered indigenous women, without sufficient data, it is
difficult to draw solid conclusions. Federal agencies must develop
concrete solutions to improve agency data collection to ensure these
crimes are being tracked and investigated appropriately so that any
trends can be properly identified and addressed. For example, adding
these types of incidents to the data collected by DOJ and BIA and
making the data submissions mandatory from all law enforcement agencies
would be a great start to addressing the data collection problem.
BIA has also began efforts to raise awareness and provide training
to Indian Country law enforcement personnel. In January 2018, the BIA
Indian Police Academy began discussions with the National Criminal
Justice Training Center (NCJTC) on collaborating to create joint
training programs for cold case investigations, long-term missing
investigations, and child abduction investigations for use throughout
Indian Country.
To specifically address the missing persons aspect of this issue,
earlier this year the BIA-Indian Police Academy launched human
trafficking courses in the Indian Country Police Officer Training
Program; the Basic Police Officer Bridge Training Program; and the
Indian Country Criminal Investigator Training Program (a joint FBI,
BIA, and Tribal attended program).
In February 2018, the NCJTC and BIA-Indian Police Academy
identified dates and locations for three pilot training programs on
Advanced Cold Case Long Term Missing Investigations in Montana and
North Dakota. The three training programs were held at Blackfeet,
Montana and New Town, North Dakota. A total of 117 personnel were
trained in these programs.
The BIA-Indian Police Academy is also scheduled to participate in
the assessment of an NCJTC project to create a web/mobile-capable
investigative guide for tribal first responders on endangered missing
and abducted persons.
As identified above, BIA OJS has taken numerous steps this year to
create a number of solutions to address the crisis of missing persons
and murder victims in Indian Country. We look forward to working with
our other federal and tribal partners to collaborate on sound solutions
to protect and serve our Native men, women, and children.
Again, thank you for the opportunity to provide a statement and my
written testimony will be provided for the record. I am happy to answer
any questions the Committee may have.
The Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Addington.
Mr. Johnson, I understand you have laryngitis, so we
appreciate your being here in spite of that.
STATEMENT OF ROBERT JOHNSON, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, CRIMINAL
INVESTIGATIVE DIVISION, FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATIONS, U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Mr. Johnson. Thank you, sir. Good afternoon, Chairman
Hoeven, Vice Chairman Udall and all the members of the
Committee. I am Bob Johnson, Assistant Director of the FBI's
Criminal Investigative Division.
With the Committee's approval, I would like to give a
shortened version of my opening statement, to save my voice for
the question and answer. Thank you, sir.
I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today to
discuss the FBI's ongoing efforts to support our partners in
Federal, State, local and tribal enforcement in resolving
missing persons cases. The FBI and its dedicated Special Agent
and Victim Specialists of the FBI's Indian Country Program work
hard to partner with tribal communities across the United
States to deliver quality law enforcement service.
Our program includes over 140 Special Agents and 40 Victim
Specialists in 36 Field Offices. Indeed, 33 percent of the
FBI's Victim Specialists and 50 percent of the FBI's Child and
Adolescent Forensic Interviewers work directly with victims and
families in Indian Country. We have 17 Safe Trails task forces
that are staffed with 90 full-time task force officers.
We will continue this important work and appreciate the
support of this Committee. I look forward to answering your
questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Johnson follows:]
Prepared Statement of Robert Johnson, Assistant Director, Criminal
Investigative Division, Federal Bureau of Investigations, U.S.
Department of Justice
Good afternoon Chairman Hoeven, Vice Chairman Udall, and Members of
the Committee. I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today
to discuss the FBI's ongoing efforts to support our partners in
Federal, state, local and Tribal law enforcement in resolving missing
person cases.
The FBI and its dedicated Special Agent and Victim Specialists of
the FBI's Indian Country Program work hard to partner with Tribal
communities across the United States to deliver quality law enforcement
service. We remain fully committed to our unique role in Indian Country
and to our partnerships with other Federal, state, local, and Tribal
law enforcement agencies.
There are 573 federally recognized Indian Tribes in the United
States and approximately 326 Indian reservations with over one million
Native American residents on or near reservation lands. The FBI shares
federal law enforcement responsibility with the Bureau of Indian
Affairs, Office of Justice Services (BIA-OJS) on more than 200 of those
Indian reservations not in PL-280 areas, and has federal criminal
jurisdiction over acts directly related to Indian gaming regardless of
jurisdiction status.
The FBI's Indian Country Program includes over 140 Special Agents
(SA) and 40 Victim Specialists (VS) in 36 Field Offices. Indeed, 33
percent of the FBI's Victim Specialists and 50 percent of the FBI's
Child and Adolescent Forensic Interviewers (CACIs) work directly with
victims and families in Indian Country.
Our highest priorities in Indian Country focus on the most serious
crimes of violence, including murder, child sexual and physical abuse,
sexual abuse of adults, and violent assault. FBI investigations in
these priority categories comprise over 75 percent of all FBI
investigations in Indian Country. In addition, crime related to gangs
and drugs is increasing in Indian country, and the FBI investigates
allegations of financial corruption. The FBI in Indian Country
simultaneously addresses many different aspects of crime and remains
fully committed and engaged with our Tribal partners
The FBI often responds to crime scenes within Indian Country after
receiving notification from our Tribal and BIA-OJS partners. They work
hand in hand to process the crime scene, collect evidence, ensure
victim safety, conduct interviews and locate suspects. The cooperation
between the FBI, BIA-OJS and Tribal law enforcement is paramount to
solving crime and protecting Tribal communities.
The Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010 (TLOA) requires that the
Attorney General submit an annual report to Congress detailing
investigative efforts by the FBI and dispositions of matters received
by United States Attorney's Offices (USAOs) with Indian country
responsibility. The majority of criminal offenses committed,
investigated, and prosecuted in Tribal communities are adjudicated in
Tribal justice systems. In much of Indian country, Tribal law
enforcement and Tribal justice systems hold criminals accountable,
protect victims, provide youth prevention and intervention programs,
and confront precursors to crime such as alcohol and substance abuse.
These efforts are often in partnership with federal agencies or
accomplished with support from federal programs and federal funding
opportunities.
Specifically, the FBI's statistics for Calendar Year (CY) 2017 show
a total of 2,210 closed investigations--a 12.5 percent increase in
total closed investigations compared to the previous year. Of those,
approximately 68 percent--or 1,511 out of 2210--of Indian country
criminal investigations opened by the FBI were referred for
prosecution.
Importantly, of the nearly 700 Indian country investigations the
FBI closed administratively without referral for prosecution, the
primary reason for closing (approximately 21 percent) was that the case
did not meet statutory definitions of a crime or USAO prosecution
guidelines. In addition, analysis of CY 2017 data indicates that 15
percent of investigations closed administratively were closed due to
unsupported allegations, meaning no evidence of criminal activity was
uncovered during the investigations. Another reason for non-referral
(20 percent) was that the deaths under investigation were determined to
be the result of accident, suicide, or natural causes (i.e., non-
homicides). In short, though not a first responder, the FBI remains
committed to resolving crime in Indian Country and works closely with
our partners to ensure cases are adjudicated fully through the court
system.
With regard to crimes against Native American women in Indian
Country, the status of the victim and subject as Indian or non-Indian
is generally initially based on information reported to law
enforcement. Tribal police, BIA, and FBI subsequently receive
documentation from tribal government authorities to confirm the tribal
membership status of individuals.
At the end of 2017, individuals entered into the National Crime
Information Center (NCIC) as ``Indian'' made up 1.8 percent of active
missing person records. The racial category of ``Indian'' is formally
classified in the NCIC as ``American Indian'' and is defined as a
person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Americas
and maintaining cultural identification through tribal affiliations or
community recognition. The determination of whether a person is listed
as ``Indian'' would be decided by the entering agency, which could be
Federal, state, local or Tribal. Importantly, at the end of 2017,
Native American (``Indian'') females accounted for 0.7 percent of the
active missing person cases--633 in all. The FBI's Missing Person and
Unidentified Person statistics are updated annually and available
publicly on-line.
Due to the high volume of violent crimes within Indian Country to
include death investigations, our partnerships with the Bureau of
Indian Affairs, Office of Justice Services (BIA-OJS), 17 Safe Trails
Task Forces (STTF), and tribal law enforcement are critical. Our
partners provide invaluable assistance and intelligence related to the
location of the crime scenes, identification of suspects/victims, and
location of suspects.
The 17 FBI STTFs are a significant force multiplier focusing on
violent crime to include death investigations with approximately 90
full time Task Force Officers spread across Indian Country. STTF full
time officers are made up of state, local, and tribal police officers.
This important program has expanded in the last year and the FBI plans
to add new STTFs in FY 2019 to combat the levels of violent crimes and
narcotic trafficking in Indian Country.
The FBI also partners with local and Tribal police to assist when
requested in missing persons cases. FBI Agents and STTFs provide
assistance and, when foul play is believed to have occurred, an FBI
case is opened and an investigation undertaken. The FBI and the STTFs
continue to work closely with the respective Tribal Police Department,
BIA-OJS, and surrounding state and local departments.
Further, the FBI remains committed to expanding access to the
National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) to our Tribal
partners. Earlier this year, the Department of Justice announced a
significant expansion of the Tribal Access Program (TAP), a program
providing federally recognized Tribes an additional method to access
and exchange data with the national crime information databases
maintained by the FBI Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS)
Division for both civil and criminal purposes. In this way, TAP
supports tribal governments in their efforts to access, utilize, and
report critical criminal justice information, including NICS relevant
data, to the FBI in order to protect tribal communities from violent
crime.
Under TAP, Tribes have already entered information directly into
the federal databases, resulting in nearly 600 sex offender
registrations and over 550 sex offender check-ins, nearly 250 instances
of data entry that would prohibit someone from being able to purchase a
firearm, over 700 orders of protection entered and nearly 5,000 finger-
print based record checks of individuals seeking employment in
positions with contact with or control over children or tribal housing
placements. To date, TAP has been deployed to 47 federally recognized
tribes with over 200 tribal criminal justice and tribal civil agencies.
The FBI's CJIS Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program also
coordinates with BIA-OJS to increase the number of Tribes that report
crime statistics. This has been accomplished primarily through liaison
efforts and presentations to increase awareness at Tribal law
enforcement conferences. This increases the number of Tribes that are
eligible to receive funding under the DOJ Justice Assistance Grants
(JAG) program. Since Tribal jurisdiction UCR data is publicly
accessible, it increases available information about the incident of
Indian country crime and assists Tribal government leaders to make
effective decisions about strategies to fight crime and efficient
allocation of tribal law enforcement resources.
The FBI remains committed to preparing our Agents in Indian Country
with the knowledge and skills required to address the important cases
they will investigate. All FBI Agents attend and graduate from the FBI
Academy with the skills to investigate any crime over which the FBI has
jurisdiction. All FBI Agents assigned to Indian Country are given
additional training to ensure they are prepared to effectively
investigate crimes that occur within Indian Country.
Our Indian Country Crimes Unit (ICCU) provides a comprehensive
training program to include intermediate and advanced classes on
various topics related to the investigation of crimes in Indian
Country. Many of these trainings are open to Tribal law enforcement
officers, Safe Trails Task Force Officers and BIA-OJS officers and
agents. The mission of ICCU is to support Indian Country Agents in the
field and to develop and implement strategies to address the most
egregious crimes committed in Indian Country. The FBI has partnered
with DOJ's National Indian Country Training Initiative (NICTI) to
develop and deliver courses for Federal agents, Tribal law enforcement
officers and Federal and Tribal prosecutors. Just in the last several
years, the partnership has hosted over 15 courses specific to Indian
Country crime.
Beginning in 2016, FBI ICCU and BIA-OJS partnered to pilot a two
week intensive training course for FBI and BIA Agents, which is now
offered on a regular basis at BIA's training facility in Artesia, New
Mexico. Each class accommodates 24 students which include FBI Agents,
Tribal Criminal Investors, and BIA-OJS Criminal Investigators. The
course provides detailed investigative tools and procedures specific to
Indian Country.
In summary, the FBI remains fully committed to working with its
partners at all levels on the issues raised in this hearing today,
including missing persons and murder victims. It is imperative that we
work together to make certain that all missing persons are entered into
the appropriate databases, that cases are being fully investigated, and
that persons responsible for criminal activity in Indian country are
brought to justice. We look forward to continuing this important work
and appreciate the support of this committee. Thank you for the
opportunity to appear before you today. I am now happy to answer any
questions.
Senator Udall. [Presiding.] Mr. LaPorte, please, proceed.
STATEMENT OF GERALD LaPORTE, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF
INVESTIGATIVE AND FORENSIC SCIENCES, NATIONAL
INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Mr. LaPorte. Chairman Hoeven, Vice Chairman Udall, members
of the Committee, I am honored to appear before you today.
My name is Gerry LaPorte, and I am the Director of the
Office of Investigative and Forensic Sciences in the National
Institute of Justice. NIJ is the resource development and
evaluation arm of the Department of Justice, and my office is
the Federal Government's lead agency to help State, local and
tribal agencies improve their capacity to collect and analyze
forensic evidence. We also support the development of
innovative technologies, information exchange and research to
ensure forensic test methods are reliable and responsive to the
needs of the criminal justice field.
One of our greatest challenges and high priorities is
addressing violence in Indian Country, especially the silent
crisis of the missing and murdered. Our research bears out, and
many of you know already, that American Indian and Alaska
Native people experience violence at rates well above those
encountered by any other group in America.
According to an NIJ study released in 2016, more than four
in five Native adults have experienced some form of violence in
their lifetime. Hundreds of Native Americans in communities
across the Country have simply vanished, leaving almost no
trace of themselves. Their families endure years, sometimes
decades of uncertainty and agony, waiting for answers. We know
we can do better.
These families are among the tens of thousands across the
Country coping with the mysterious loss of a loved one, trying
to make sense of the senseless, and navigating through a
process that offers few guideposts. It is a response to what we
termed many years ago as the silent mass disaster that NIJ
developed the National Missing and Unidentified Persons system,
commonly known as NamUs. NamUs is a national, centralized web-
based clearinghouse and resource center for unidentified
deceased persons and missing persons.
We launched NamUs in 2007 and envisioned a system that
could crowd-source information provided by medical examiners
and coroners, law enforcement investigators and those with
loved ones that had gone missing. NamUs has evolved into a
unique and powerful investigative tool and has been used to
resolve more than 16,000 missing persons cases and over 3,500
cases of unidentified persons, ultimately, bringing resolution
victims' families and loved ones.
NamUs operates on a secure Department of Justice
information technology platform with a publicly-accessible
component in a restricted criminal justice sensitive
environment. It allows agencies to collect, share and compare
information across jurisdictions. NamUs also provides forensic
services, such as DNA testing and fingerprint and dental
examinations. We also have a boots-on-the-ground team to
provide training, technical assistance and case support to aid
investigations.
We recently upgraded the system to NamUs 2.0, so that
allows stakeholders to better collect, search, analyze and
manage case information. We recognize that American Indian and
Alaska Native cases were under-represented, and therefore we
launched an outreach campaign to increase NamUs awareness.
In the past 12 months alone, NamUs and NIJ staff have
concentrated efforts to provide training and outreach to the
American Indian and Alaska Native community through 22 events
in 13 States. In July of 2018, we saw over a 100 percent
increase in reported missing persons cases, when compared to
monthly reports submitted in the previous 18 months.
NamUs has helped resolve 282 American Indian and Alaska
Native missing persons cases. Currently, it has 223 active
cases from 32 States. NamUs is also supporting 182 cases
involving unidentified remains, 61 of which have been deemed
either homicides or deaths of undetermined causes.
Additionally, in fiscal year 2018, the department's grant-
making agencies awarded more than $113 million to 125 separate
tribes under a consolidated tribal assistance solicitation,
which covers a range of public safety activities. These grant
programs support the department's overall strategy to reduce
crime and improve safety in Indian County, to which we in NIJ
remain deeply committed.
Through these programs, the department will continue giving
our tribal partners the technology and other resources they
need to safeguard their communities. We will work with them to
help them solve crimes that in too many cases have left
families in Indian Country without answers they deserve.
Again, NamUs is ready to be part of that effort. We know we
must continue raising awareness among tribal public safety
officials and tribal members in order to ensure that NamUs
fulfills its potential as a case-solving tool in Indian Country
and brings resolution to families searching for missing loved
ones.
We are proud of the work we are doing and we are eager to
build on our progress. On behalf of our Director, Dr. David
Mullhausen, and the entire staff of NIJ, I am grateful for your
time today and for the support we receive from this Committee.
Thank you, and I look forward to answering any questions you
may have.
[The prepared statement of Mr. LaPorte follows:]
Prepared Statement of Gerald LaPorte, Director, Office of Investigative
and Forensic Sciences, National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department
of Justice
Chairman Hoeven, Vice Chairman Udall, and Members of the Committee,
thank you for this opportunity to discuss the ongoing commitment by the
U.S. Department of Justice to work alongside our Tribal partners to
help gather data and provide a resource for investigations into cases
involving missing persons. My name is Gerry LaPorte, and I am the
Director of the Office of Investigative and Forensic Sciences (OIFS) at
the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) in the Department of Justice's
Office of Justice Programs (OJP).
Within NIJ, OIFS is the Federal Government's lead agency for
forensic science. OIFS's mission is to improve the quality and practice
of forensic science through research and development, testing and
evaluation, technology, information exchange, and the development of
resources for the criminal justice community. NIJ's programs also
support the Department of Justice's three forensic science priorities:
(1) improve capacity; (2) increase coordination and collaboration with
state, local, and Tribal entities; and (3) advance the reliability and
sensitivity of forensic science testing. We provide objective and
independent knowledge and tools to inform the decisionmaking of the
criminal justice community as it works to reduce crime and advance
justice, particularly at the state, local, and Tribal levels. We work
with other Department of Justice components and also alongside other
Federal agencies, like the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Much has been said about the levels of crime and violence in Indian
country and the Alaska Native villages and the numbers of missing
persons and murder victims within the American Indian and Alaska Native
(AI/AN) communities. The NIJ-supported study, ``Violence Against
American Indian and Alaska Native Women and Men: 2010 Findings from the
National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey,'' released in
2016, provides staggering estimates of sexual violence, physical
violence by intimate partners, stalking, and psychological aggression
by intimate partners. It also provides estimates of interracial and
intraracial victimization and briefly examines the impact of violence
on the victims. This study was important because it provided the first
set of estimates from a national large-scale survey of victimization
among self-identified AI/AN women and men on psychological aggression,
coercive control and entrapment, physical violence, stalking, and
sexual violence, using detailed behaviorally specific questions.
This research provides the most comprehensive, reliable, and valid
estimates on the victimization experiences of AI/AN women and men. It
found that more than four in five AI/AN adults (83 percent) have
experienced some form of violence in their lifetime. That's almost 3
million people who have experienced stalking, sexual violence, or
psychological aggression or physical violence by intimate partners.
As part of the Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act
(VAWA) of 2005 (and as amended in 2013), NIJ is mandated, in
consultation with the Justice Department's Office on Violence Against
Women (OVW), to conduct analysis and research on violence against
Indian women (VAIW) living in Indian country and in Alaska Native
villages. Consonant with those provisions, NIJ has developed a
comprehensive research program consisting of multiple projects that are
being accomplished over an extended period of time. The primary goal of
the program is to document the prevalence and nature of violence
against Native women living on sovereign tribal lands. The research
program also is designed to evaluate the effectiveness of federal,
state, Tribal, and local responses to violence against AI/AN women and
propose recommendations to improve the effectiveness of such responses.
Ultimately, this program of research is expected to improve our
understanding of the programmatic, service, and policy needs of
victims, and help educate and inform practitioners, policymakers, and
the public about the threat to the safety, health, and well-being of
Native women. This effort will hopefully be a big step toward reducing
the incidence of violent crimes against Native women and ensuring
perpetrators of these violent crimes are held accountable.
The epidemic of sexual violence in Indian country is compounded by
another, silent crisis: an unknown number of Native Americans have
simply vanished, leaving no trace of their whereabouts or of the crimes
to which they may have fallen victim. Fortunately, not every missing
person is a victim of a violent crime, and while others have gone
missing for deliberate reasons, we remain focused on those who have
gone missing unintentionally.
Every night across the nation, tens of thousands of families sit
down to their dinner tables and face an empty chair that should be
occupied by a loved one. Those affected by the disappearance of a
family member face an agonizing wait for answers, sometimes for
decades. The sense of loss when a loved one disappears is magnified by
feelings of helplessness and isolation as these families puzzle through
a process that offers few guideposts.
It was in response to this ``national silent mass disaster'' that
NIJ developed the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System
(NamUs) to help identify unidentified remains, locate missing persons,
and bring resolution to victims' families. NamUs is a national,
centralized, web-based information clearinghouse and resource center
for missing, unidentified, and unclaimed person cases. NamUs combines
technology, forensic services, and investigative technical assistance
from a seasoned staff of subject matter experts to support and assist
stakeholders with cases from across the country.
Since the system was launched in 2007, more than 45,000 cases have
been reported to NamUs and over 16,000 missing person cases and over
3,500 unidentified person cases reported to NamUs have been resolved.
Many of these resolutions were made possible by storing, sharing, and
comparing case information in a centralized, online system that is
accessible to all.
It is important to note that cases are only published in NamUs
after rigorous vetting with the appropriate local, state, federal, or
Tribal law enforcement agency in order to secure the privacy and
protection of persons reported missing and to ensure quality control
over the missing person data. For instance, some missing person reports
involve individuals who do not wish for their location to be known to
family or associates due to circumstances involving domestic violence
and other safety issues.
NIJ's NamUs provides law enforcement officials, medical examiners
and coroners, allied forensic professionals, and families with lost
loved ones the tools and support they need to investigate and solve
some of the most complex cold cases. NamUs is a permission-based
system, meaning it offers both a publicly viewable area and a
restricted criminal justice-sensitive environment designed to protect
privileged information while enlisting the support of the general
public. With diverse users in all 50 states and across many Tribes and
U.S. territories, NamUs is a collaborative system that bridges the
communication gap among stakeholders in different geographical regions,
enabling better information sharing and providing technical assistance
and investigative case support critical to resolving these cases.
For clarity, I must note some distinctions between the data entered
into NamUs and the data entered into the FBI's National Crime
Information Center (NCIC). With the exception of states like New York,
Michigan, and Tennessee that have passed mandatory reporting laws,
NamUs is a voluntary program that has traditionally been used by
criminal justice agencies to investigate long-term missing and
unidentified person cases or cases where all investigative leads have
been exhausted. Since the majority of missing persons reported to NCIC
are mandated by law and many are recovered quickly, most are never
entered into NamUs. However, NamUs poses no restrictions on the amount
of time a person must be missing prior to entry into the database or
for access to investigative or forensic services.
We realized that AI/AN cases were underrepresented in NamUs, so
over the last two years NIJ and NamUs staff have made significant and
targeted efforts to increase awareness. We have launched an outreach
campaign to Tribal law enforcement, leadership, and community members
to ensure the communities are aware of the technology and technical
assistance, which is available free to all Tribal nations. Also, a
recent technology upgrade, NamUs 2.0, contains enhancements that allow
all criminal justice users to better collect, search, analyze, and
manage case information.
NamUs has helped resolve 279 cases and currently has 324 active AI/
AN missing persons cases, but it remains seriously underutilized by
this community of stakeholders. The number of missing persons cases is
believed to be far more. NIJ continues its outreach and technical
assistance activities nationwide.
There are also 102 active unidentified remains cases being
supported, 61 of which have been deemed either homicides or deaths of
undetermined causes. NIJ is committed to working with the Tribal
nations directly to enhance technology and provide training, better
support and technical assistance, and investigative and forensic
services. By bringing information, people, and forensic science
together, NamUs can help resolve cases. We know the loss, trauma, and
need for answers span generations. NamUs even received DNA from the
grandchild of a man who went missing in 1902. The oldest missing
persons case resolved by NamUs was from 1934 and the oldest
unidentified persons case was from 1957.
In FY 2018 OJP, along with our partners at the Justice Department's
other grant-making offices--the Office of Community Oriented Policing
Services (COPS Office) and OVW--awarded 225 grants totaling more than
$113 million to 125 separate Tribes under our Coordinated Tribal
Assistance Solicitation (CTAS). Since FY 2010, the Justice Department
has awarded more than 2,000 grants for applications submitted through
CTAS, totaling more than $940 million to hundreds of AI/AN communities.
Through CTAS, applicants apply for multiple tribal grant programs under
one solicitation, which allows Tribes to plan comprehensively and
strategically allocate resources.
With CTAS, Tribes can search grant opportunities by purpose area--
whether it's serving sexual assault survivors, implementing a
coordinated community response to violence against Native women,
helping Tribal youth, or any of the other general purpose areas,
including a new one this year that focuses on addressing violence and a
re-tooled emphasis on victim services.
In FY 2018, for the first time, OJP received a three percent set-
aside (totaling $133 million) of the Crime Victims Fund specifically
allocated to meet the needs of AI/AN victims. We expect to finish
awarding these grants by mid-April 2019, and once awarded, they will
substantially expand the number of Tribes providing victim services.
These awards will support child and elder victims, domestic
violence and sexual assault survivors, victims of human trafficking,
families of homicide victims, and people who have been victimized as a
result of the opioid crisis. The FY 2019 President's Budget request
proposes a comparable percentage of set-aside funds to help solidify
the long-term sustainability of Tribal victim assistance programs.
OJP, along with the COPS Office, also supports the Tribal Access
Program (TAP), which enables Tribal officials to enter protection
orders in federal databases and register sex offenders with the
National Sex Offender Registry. TAP can be a key element in ensuring
the safety of certain victims. It also allows Tribes to access critical
data from FBI databases. Nearly 50 tribes are currently part of the
program, and an additional 25 tribes have been selected to participate
in this fiscal year.
At annual government-to-government consultations with tribes held
by OVW, tribal leaders have testified about the need for robust
responses to the disappearance, trafficking, and murder of Native women
and youth. In response, OVW has funded training and technical
assistance for interdisciplinary teams from tribal communities on
identifying cases of sex trafficking and ensuring that victims receive
needed services. In FY 2018, OVW renewed funding for Tribal Special
Assistant United States Attorneys, cross-deputized tribal prosecutors
who are able to bring violence-against-women cases in both tribal and
federal courts, including prosecuting habitual domestic violence
offenders before their crimes result in murder. OVW also provides
funding and other support to tribes exploring and implementing special
domestic violence criminal jurisdiction under the 2013 reauthorization
of VAWA to help ensure prosecution of certain non-Indian domestic
violence offenders. Finally, through the Trilateral Working Group on
Violence Against Indigenous Women and Girls, OVW and other DOJ
components are fostering cross-border collaboration with Canada and
Mexico to combat the disappearance and murder of Native women and
youth.
As the Committee is well aware, the majority of American Indians
and Alaska Natives in our country do not live on Tribal lands. Many of
them, in fact, live in urban areas, where they face a different set of
challenges from those we see in Indian country. One of those challenges
is a disproportionate vulnerability to sex trafficking. Victims of
trafficking likely also contribute to the missing Indian person numbers
discussed at this hearing. Indian women and girls are sometimes moved
off reservations and forced into trafficking activities in the city. In
addition to the horrific trauma that this kind of exploitation causes,
it also means that they are often dragged into the criminal justice
system by virtue of being arrested.
OJP's Office for Victims of Crime has made three awards to urban
organizations to address this urgent problem under a program called
Project Beacon. Grantees in Albuquerque, Seattle, and Chicago are
developing community partnerships to meet the needs of American Indian
victims. The grants support a range of services, from emergency shelter
and housing to crisis counseling and treatment. These victims have, in
many cases, been violently displaced, uprooted and separated from their
families and support networks. Our goal through these grants is to
return them to safety, return them to their families, and to help them
begin the process of recovery and healing.
As noted, OJP works closely with other DOJ components. The
Department's Office of Tribal Justice and the network of Tribal
Liaisons in the United States Attorneys' offices and specialists
throughout the country collaborate with tribes to improve law
enforcement functions and reduce crime. These offices each have a
tribal liaison to link efforts between the Department and tribal
leadership. The Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys also trains
federal, state, local, and Tribal attorneys and law enforcement staff
on law enforcement issues in Indian country.
As the Department continues to enhance its public safety efforts in
Indian country, we remain committed to working with our Tribal partners
to improve the tools they need to protect citizens, safeguard
communities, and solve crimes that, in too many cases, have left loved
ones without the answers that they need and deserve. We will continue
to work hard on their behalf. Thank you, and I look forward to
addressing your questions.
Senator Udall. Thank you to all the witnesses for your
testimony.
Mr. LaPorte, you notified my staff last week that five
additional data fields to track information on Native missing
persons will be added to NamUs in January 2019. I welcome
including these additional fields and appreciate that they were
developed by tribal input. But I want to make sure they are
purposefully utilized for you and the National Institute of
Justice.
Can you tell us more about what these new fields will
cover?
Mr. LaPorte. Thank you for your question, Senator. Yes, we
did work in collaboration with some of the tribal communities.
My colleague to my right here, Mr. Addington, was instrumental
in helping us develop those fields.
So just for information, I will try to quickly go through
what those fields will include. The first will be, was the
missing person last seen on tribal land under the jurisdiction
of the United States. We will also have a field about whether
the missing person's primary residence was located on tribal
land. A third field we will be adding is, was the missing
person enrolled or affiliated with a State or federally-
recognized tribe. And then if they check yes on that, there
will be a pick list of the tribe to identify with.
I believe this is mentioned in Savanna's Act, so we are a
little ahead of Savanna's Act.
One of the fields will be, were the remains of the
unidentified decedent found on tribal land under the
jurisdiction of the United States; does the tribal agency
participate in the tribal access program.
So those fields, and I am happy to announce that it was
supposed to launch on January 2nd, and believe or not, we are
actually ahead of schedule. We are going to launch that on
December 18th.
Senator Udall. That is great. We are very, very encouraged
to hear that.
What training is your office planning to provide to NamUs
users to ensure that they understand how to populate those
fields with accurate data?
Mr. LaPorte. We have been working in conjunction with BIA.
We have provided some training to their analysts as well. We
also have a suite of individuals that work throughout the
Nation. They are called NamUs regional program specialists, or
RPSs. We have nine regions that each of those RPSs take control
over, or head up.
So we will be doing some training with RPSs, then we are
going to try as much as possible to certainly engage the tribal
community and let them know that we are open to providing more
training if needed.
Senator Udall. Are these RPSs going to be reaching out to
tribes?
Mr. LaPorte. I believe that we can, we will be working with
RPSs to do those kinds of notifications, yes.
Senator Udall. Mr. Johnson, given that the FBI runs its own
data bases, is the Bureau currently planning to improve its
systems to track things like Native status of missing persons?
Mr. Johnson. Yes, sir. Under our NCIC third generation
development, CJIS went out and surveyed law enforcement
agencies, including tribal agencies, for additional input that
they want in those fields. Some of those responders requested
new clothing description fields, scars, marks, tattoos, along
with new race and sex codes. But of significance, it was a new
name search algorithm which will enhance the ability to search
Native American names in this new system that we are going to
deploy within the next year or so.
Senator Udall. Mr. Johnson, the Department's most recent
Indian Country Declinations Report shows that the number of FBI
closed cases increased by 12.5 percent in 2017. However, the
report doesn't show a similar increase in the number of
prosecutions undertaken by the U.S. Attorneys' offices. In
fact, it shows that nearly 71 percent of the Department's
prosecution declinations fell under the category of
insufficient evidence.
I know that the FBI can't speak to the Executive Office of
the U.S. Attorneys' data, but to me it is alarming that the
cause for most declinations is insufficient evidence, an issue
that would appear to fall directly into the Bureau's
wheelhouse.
Is the Bureau aware of this apparent disconnect? How can
the bureau explain that it is closing more cases than ever, but
the declination rate remains the same due to insufficient
evidence?
Mr. Johnson. Yes, sir. We can only provide the evidence
that we find in the investigation. I will tell you the
prosecutorial letters are sent to the U.S. Attorney's office
and they make the determination if they are going to drop the
case or not.
Senator Udall. Senator Tester.
Senator Tester. Thank you, Ranking Member Udall. I want to
thank the panel for being here today. I know fully well that
the people sitting at this panel right now are critically
important if we are going to get this solved. So the first
question is, do you guys believe that there is a problem with
missing and murdered indigenous women? A simple yes or no
answer will work.
Mr. Addington. Yes, I believe there is a problem.
Mr. Johnson. Yes, sir, I do.
Mr. LaPorte. Absolutely yes.
Senator Tester. So we are going to have a panel come up and
talk about what is going on on the ground. But when it comes to
doing the investigation, doing it in a timely manner, getting
the information, where is the problem? Is it with the BIA? Is
it with the FBI? Is it with tribal law enforcement? Where is
the problem?
Because if it is a problem, and you agree that it is a
problem, where is the problem? Because if this was going on any
other place in the Country, daresay there would be incredible
hearings in this body. So where is the problem, so we know
where to focus our efforts? Is it with the BIA?
Mr. Addington. Well, the problem we have right now is there
is not a data collection -
Senator Tester. Let me back up a little bit. Let's take the
issue of Ashley Loring-Heavy Runner. She gets reported missing.
It has been God knows how long, and there are 25 or 30 other
missing women. Data base or no data base, why haven't we found
more of them? What is the problem?
Mr. Addington. I think there needs to be more coordination
at the beginning.
Senator Tester. Coordination between who?
Mr. Addington. Coordination between the search and rescue
group, the law enforcement, everybody that's involved. When we
have someone that's reported missing, a lot of times it just
comes in that they come up missing, and then there's a search
and rescue group that usually goes out and starts searching an
area.
Senator Tester. So that is true with Indian Country, the
law enforcement doesn't happen?
Mr. Addington. Well, law enforcement is involved into that.
But it could be like a search and rescue group with the tribe
or somebody that we bring in that is working with us.
Senator Tester. When do you guys enter into the equation,
the BIA?
Mr. Addington. As soon as we are notified.
Senator Tester. As soon as you are notified. And how about
the FBI?
Mr. Johnson. Exactly the same, sir. As soon as we are
notified, we actually bring assets to the table.
Senator Tester. So in many of these cases, and I think in
Ashley Loring-Heavy Runner's case, it was the BIA had it then
the BIA turned it over to the FBI. Is that what normally
happens?
Mr. Addington. Not necessarily. There is your tribal police
department there on the reservation. So they operate the
uniform police program. The BIA does the criminal
investigations there. So it could be, it depends upon the
reservation. It could be uniform police get the call
immediately.
Senator Tester. I know, but at what point in time is it
turned over to the FBI? Because I am not sure the FBI is in on
it at the very beginning. That is not what I am being made
aware of.
Mr. Addington. Yes, sir. It depends, if a BIA investigator
is involved in it, normally we coordinate with the FBI.
Normally we work joint investigations on most of it.
Senator Tester. So what you're saying is when a missing and
murdered indigenous woman is reported, you have tribal police,
BIA and FBI that are working to find that person?
Mr. Addington. It could be, depending in the area and where
it is reported at. The BIA may be the lead investigative agency
or the FBI may be the lead investigative agency.
Senator Tester. So what determines that?
Mr. Addington. It depends on the agents that are available,
it depends on what is reported. The uniform police department
could be doing searches, it depends on what is reported. It
could be somebody that has been reported and -
Senator Tester. So why are we not finding these people?
Mr. Addington. The evidence. We have to have tips, we
follow up on all the tips that come in. And you have to do an
investigation. Sometimes you don't get leads that come into the
investigation.
Senator Tester. I don't mean to beat this thing to death,
but in Montana, if these numbers are correct, and I believe
they are even larger than this, in July, middle of July there
were 30 missing and murdered, missing women. One of them had
been found. These are Native Americans. We have 70,000 Native
Americas in Montana. That seems a bit excessive to me, to not
be able to find a few of them.
And I know there are overlapping jurisdictions with tribal
police and BIA and potentially FBI. But there has to be a
reason for this. It isn't a data base. I am telling you that if
you have people on the ground that are following up, and I am
not a law enforcement person, I am a farmer. But the quicker
you can get on it, the better chance you have of finding what
is going on.
Are we really putting the kind of resources we need, is the
BIA putting the kind of resources, does the FBI have the kind
of resources to be able to get into Indian Country and do the
investigation, helping tribal police? But actually, you guys
are the lead dogs here, truthfully. Do you have the resources
to do it? Do you have the manpower to do it? Because it is not
getting done. And if it is not that, it has to be something
else.
Mr. Addington. Some of those cases are not Indian Country
cases. We find that some of them are in urban areas.
Senator Tester. That is true, but they are Native American
women.
Mr. Addington. Correct. Which the BIA doesn't have
jurisdiction off the reservation. So we do investigate the
missing person claims that are on the reservation and we do try
to work with the tribal police, if the tribal police are
running the uniform police program. As soon as we are notified,
we send the resources in there to try to get started.
But sometimes a search and rescue crew or someone gets
started, and if they find evidence or search an area and they
haven't been, everybody hadn't got together and they have a
plan before they start doing those things -
Senator Tester. I got it.
Mr. Addington. We could destroy evidence or not find
something because of that issue.
Senator Tester. Something is not happening here, though. I
can keep going down this, but we are not getting anywhere.
Something is not happening that needs to happen, that is
happening in other places in the Country. But it's not
happening when it is applied to indigenous women.
And I don't know what it is. We are going to have to find
out. I don't know if it is manpower, I don't know if it is
money, I don't know what it is. Maybe it is lack of cooperation
between the entities. But my time is long past, thank you very
much.
Senator Udall. Senator Murkowski.
Senator Murkowski. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am going to
have to go back. We have your written testimony, but I want to
be able to understand what you have shared with my colleagues
here. This is one of the problems about being in the Senate and
having votes while we are trying to gain information.
You all know the situation in Alaska, in that we don't deal
with tribal citizenship through Indian Country that the
majority of the tribes exercise jurisdiction through tribal
citizenship. So you heard my concern about the situation in
Kake, you don't have local law enforcement. And it is not just
down in the area that Pat is from, it is all over the State.
So much of what we have learned is, we can't follow through
with any of these cases, because we don't have anybody that was
on the ground that could even look, well, there may have been
evidence that we could have followed, people that we could have
talked with, just the initial work.
So the question that I have, and I will direct it to all of
you, is whether or not we have any specific training for tribal
government representatives outside of law enforcement
departments. What I am trying to figure out is, if we have
folks on the ground and they are capable but they are not
trained, they don't know how to deal with whether it is a chain
of custody or not. What is being done, if anything at all, to
provide for any level of training for more of these local
resources? Is there anything, either through the BIA or through
DOJ?
Mr. Addington. There is not any formal training that I am
aware of for non-law enforcement staff. What we are doing,
though, with the State of Alaska, we went down and sat down
with the Alaska State Troopers and the VPSO coordinator, in
trying to figure out ways that we can help them, either by
training up there or help them with resources, that if they
have any types of cases that are going on and they don't have
the resources, is there something that we have available for
them to do.
And they bring in training to those villages as well.
Senator Murkowski. Bringing in the training. I think we are
seeing examples in other areas where we are doing just this.
When it comes to gathering the evidence that we need if a woman
has been raped, and we just don't have the SART nurses, we just
don't have them out there.
So what has happened is a woman has been raped, and she is
told, don't shower, don't change your clothes, get on an
airplane, get yourself to Anchorage and we will collect the
evidence there. So you can be sitting for 24 hours.
So what we are now doing is we are figuring out ways to
train the local community health providers, the community
health aides, to at least collect the evidence. I am thinking
about other models that we might be able to use to just help us
collect some of the evidence, so we might be to better track
the offenders of those who are taking these women.
Anything from DOJ that you guys have been thinking about?
Mr. LaPorte. Senator, thank you for your question. So NIJ
has been working in collaboration with the Office of Violence,
the Office of Victims of Crime, OVC. And we have created what
we call a telemedicine program for exactly what you just
discussed.
So that issue that you discussed obviously I think it is on
a much larger scale in Alaska, because of the land mass. So
there are many urban areas around the Country where there is
not a SANE or a SART that is present. So what we have been
doing is, we have been doing some research and we have a couple
of other locations set up.
But basically, you would have a nurse that may not be an
experienced SART or an experienced SANE. And he or she would be
at a specific location. Then through a teleconference type
system, we would have a very experienced SANE or SAR that is
somewhere else, that works cases all the time, and then brings
them through that.
One of the things we are trying to work through that system
is the effects on the victim of potentially having a, if you
will, a teleconference and all of this invasive medical exam
taking place.
Senator Murkowski. But putting it in perspective, you can
have the invasiveness of having this anonymous person on the
other end walking your local health aide through this process,
or think about the horror of sitting in those same clothes and
that, without being able to shower, without being able to wash
your hands for 24 hours, 48 hours, as you go through three
different airports to get to Anchorage.
So I know telemedicine is not perfect. But this is one of
those situations where, if we don't start thinking outside the
box, the box is going to do people in.
Mr. LaPorte. Yes, I completely agree with you. What we are
finding, though, is that in these cases, the victims are
generally amendable. It is like anything, we have to
communicate with the victim, we have to let them know what is
going on. We have to let them explain the circumstances. And
like you said, it is an outside of the box solution.
But it appears to be, we are seeing some promising results.
Senator Murkowski. Good. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Udall. Senator Cortez Masto.
STATEMENT OF HON. CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO,
U.S. SENATOR FROM NEVADA
Senator Cortez Masto. Thank you. Let me just again thank
the chair and ranking member for this important hearing today.
Maybe, Mr. Johnson, you can help me, because I want to
touch back on this idea of jurisdiction. What I have found is
it is very confusing, right? It is set by Federal statute. You
have different players that are involved when it comes to the
investigation of a crime, whether it is the FBI or the BIA or a
State or local jurisdiction.
I know there are Federal statutes out there, there are
MOUs, those and other things. I was a State attorney general,
so I know working with the U.S. Attorney's office, many of the
U.S. Attorneys across the Country, hoping we have put together
guidelines and protocols on how, as we pursue that
investigation, who has what jurisdiction.
Is that correct? Each U.S. Attorney's office is
responsible, across the Country, for identifying the
jurisdiction within their realm to make sure that everybody is
working together when it comes to these issues that are
happening in Indian Country? Is that correct?
Mr. Johnson. Yes, Senator.
Senator Cortez Masto. Okay. So with that said, why is the
confusion still there? Why do we still have, even though there
is a direct delineation of who has jurisdiction over this
crime, and the U.S. Attorneys' office have identified that for
their jurisdiction, why are we still having these problems?
Mr. Johnson. I think what I would say is that a lot of
those problems, we work very closely with the BIA. The 17 Safe
Trails task forces that we have, they are staffed with task
force officers from the BIA, FBI agents. We have State and
local.
These cases are worked jointly, jointly at the exact same
time. And again, it is to impart any knowledge that we have off
to the tribal investigators. At the same time, jurisdiction is
taken by the whole task force itself.
Senator Cortez Masto. So if that is the case, I am looking
at, we have Ms. Loring-Heavy Runner here, and her sister. And
BIA started that investigation. The FBI was not involved, but
then eventually the FBI was asked to get involved with that
investigation. What happened there?
Mr. Johnson. We were involved from the get-go. We were
providing them assistance. But they had the lead, because it
was a missing person at the time. And then once the body was
found in August is when it became a homicide investigation. At
that time, the FBI took the lead.
Senator Cortez Masto. So as we sit here, I don't have
enough time, but as we sit here, you are hearing this, and you
know, from being on the front lines, I am going to ask both Mr.
Johnson and Mr. Addington, what should we be doing? What do we
need to do in Congress to address this issue to make sure that
the actions that are taken are immediate, they are responsive,
there is definite protocols and guidelines in every
jurisdiction, so that nobody has to wonder who has control and
what is happening?
What is it we need to know? What should we be doing at the
Federal level? Is there anything that comes to mind that both
of you think we should be addressing?
Mr. Addington. Thank you for the question. I think the
biggest thing is we have start from the very beginning. When
someone makes a claim of someone missing, the coordination has
to start right then.
Senator Cortez Masto. But what I just heard, it is. It is
already defined how the coordination is supposed to happen. Why
is it not occurring?
Mr. Addington. Well, when a missing persons report may come
in, it may be how it is reported. It may not start immediately
because how it is reported. It may be reported that someone
went to someone's house, they haven't come home, we haven't
found them. It may just be reported that they are out somewhere
and we can't find them. So the initial response from the first
responders, may be, okay, we are going to go try to find the
person, because someone last saw them here.
So there may be a day or two go by before it actually gets
up to an investigative level.
Senator Cortez Masto. So are you saying there should be
better coordination, better training for those that are
initially first responders that are responding? Better training
to identify what is going on so immediately there is that
coordination?
Mr. Addington. Yes, I think we have to have more teaching
immediately. When someone reports someone missing, regardless
of what the circumstances are, until we determine there was a
crime, sometimes there is a little lag in there. We have to be
immediate in a response and the coordination, so everyone is on
board, everyone is in the loop. So regardless of which way the
investigation goes, everyone is already involved.
Now, it may not be the BIA or the FBI actually leading that
investigation immediately because of the information that comes
in. But everyone has to be at least notified and involved, and
it should work that way. I think we have to do a lot better job
of educating those folks no the ground, the first responders,
that this is the way it has to work.
We have to get everybody involved and then we have to have
a commitment from every agency that we get in there and do
something and try to get to the bottom of, if it is a person
that is just missing and we can locate them, there are
resources that we can check to determine whether they have used
credit cards or financial assistance or those kinds of things.
I think we have to do that more immediate, so we can determine,
is there actually a problem here, or was it just someone that
has run away from home and someone knows where they are at, and
we can get that person located immediately.
Senator Cortez Masto. Thank you. I know my time is up,
thank you very much.
Senator Udall. Senator Daines.
Senator Daines. Thank you, Ranking Member Udall.
I will focus my first questions here on Ashley Loring-Heavy
Runner's case. We have her sister, who is here, she will be
testifying on the next panel. We have her cousin here as well.
Sometimes they are just names in a report. But we have a face
for this family here today.
Mr. Addington, it has been brought to my attention that in
cases involving missing indigenous women, the Bureau of Indian
Affairs does not act quickly enough. Here is an example. Ashley
Loring-Heavy Runner of the Blackfeet Tribe was missing, it is
my understanding, for two months before the Blackfeet police
and the BIA started investigating the case as a missing person.
I can tell you, my hometown, if that was going on in our
neighborhood, there would not have been a two-month lag to
begin an investigation as a missing person. My question, what
is the protocol the BIA uses when a report first comes in?
Mr. Addington. Thank you for the question, Senator. The
very first thing is, it depends on who is operating the
program. It is a little bit different answer depending on if
the tribe is running the tribal police department, or the BIA
is running a direct service program. But the protocol should be
the same. Whoever gets the report, if it's the uniform police
program, we should immediately notify the investigate unit,
whoever that would be. If it is BIA or the FBI, there should be
immediate action and protocol.
Senator Daines. Do you have a lot of detail in this case? I
really hear a lot of cases. Do you have any detail in this
case?
Mr. Addington. The case is an ongoing investigation.
Senator Daines. Does it seem like protocol is being
followed when there was a two-month lag time between when she
went missing and when the case began investigation as a missing
person? Two months? Because we have something in Montana called
winter.
Mr. Addington. Right.
Senator Daines. If you have evidence that occurred during
summer months, where the Blackfeet Tribe is not part of our
State, we get a lot of snow and very harsh winters and a lot of
wind. Is two months a reasonable time? Is that the protocol you
follows?
Mr. Addington. No. And I think there has to be a lot better
coordination at the beginning. Most of these cases that I am
familiar with, it just seems like we have to have every agency
having better coordination in the beginning of these things. If
you have a search and rescue crew, like I mentioned earlier,
there could be people out doing searches that is outside of law
enforcement as well. So you have to pull all of those resources
together.
Senator Daines. And there has been a lot of search going on
by family, a lot of those efforts in the community there.
Let me just go a little further here in this case. In
Ashley's case, there was evidence presented to the BIA. One was
a sweater a witness saw her wearing the day she went missing.
The other was a pair of boots. Both of these leads were
presented to the BIA. And now the family is trying to find out
what is going on. It is not being made clear what is happening
there. Leads don't seem to be followed up on. And Ashley is
still missing.
This lack of communication to law enforcement and the
family of the victims is tragic. I spent over a half hour
chatting with the family yesterday on this. Every time I asked
a question, more questions arose.
How do you think Ashley's case could have been handled
differently or better?
Mr. Addington. First, we have a victim service program that
should be meeting with the family and making sure that they are
up to speed on the things they can release to them. The BIA has
a program, the FBI has a victim witness program and the U.S.
Attorney's office has a victim witness program that does a
phenomenal job with the family. So that should be occurring; if
it is not, it should be, to make sure that the families are up
to speed on what is going on and what they can release.
Like I say, with any of these investigations that I am
familiar with, it just seems like we have to have better
coordination in the beginning of them. Because there are so
many agencies.
Senator Daines. Thank you for that comment. That is the
understatement of the day. I mean, two months, two months. We
are talking about fresh evidence that is out there that
actually was collected by civilians, not be law enforcement,
their investigators. These are just folks finding these leads.
And now the family can't get evidence to where is the evidence.
So I just ask for your help in this case, to personally
intervene and find out what in the world is going on. There are
a lot of questions.
Mr. Chairman, Mr. Ranking Member, I am going to yield back.
There is a lot more to be asked, but I am about out of time
here.
Senator Udall. Thank you, Senator Daines. Senator Heitkamp?
Senator Heitkamp. Thank you, Senator Udall.
You know, you guys talk a big story. But those of us who,
as Senator Daines just explained, or Olivia Lone Bear, it just
doesn't match with what happens on the ground. Mr. Johnson, you
are suggesting that the FBI, once notified for assistance, will
immediately jump to the task on a missing person. That is not
true. You wait until there is evidence of some wrongdoing, and
then you get involved. At least that is what is implemented on
the ground.
You aren't part of that protocol of trying to find missing
people. That is just not what we can expect from the FBI. You
state here that you have 140 special agents and 40 victim
service specialists. How many of them actually line in Indian
Country? How many actually work in Indian Country?
Mr. Johnson. All those individuals work -
Senator Heitkamp. I meant, actually have an office in
Indian Country.
Mr. Johnson. Because they have multiple reservations,
ma'am, they live in a central part. They show up to the office,
and then at that point, they go out to the reservations.
Senator Heitkamp. And you don't think there is enough work
on every reservation in North Dakota to locate some FBI agents?
Mr. Johnson. They are close to the reservations as they can
physically be, ma'am.
Senator Heitkamp. Well, I am telling you, there is a major
of the FBI that there is no cop on the beat. And you guys
aren't there. And how many hours, and I visited your FBI
agents. How many hours do you think they are working a week?
Mr. Johnson. How many hours do they work?
Senator Heitkamp. Yes.
Mr. Johnson. I couldn't tell you off the top of my head. I
know they are supposed to be working at least 80 hours. Because
they have to work double time for their overtime pay.
Senator Heitkamp. You know, your agents are working over
100 hours a week, 24-7.
Mr. Johnson. I wouldn't doubt it.
Senator Heitkamp. Do you think that is fair to the agents?
Do you think that is fair to the cases that go unattended
because they are overworked?
Mr. Johnson. Ma'am, almost all of our agents are overworked
right now.
Senator Heitkamp. Well, I am just telling you, that if I
ran your agency and if I ran the Bureau of Criminal
Investigation, I would figure out a way to do it better,
especially when we are dealing with you. There are many cases
you get involved in where there is dual jurisdiction. This is
one of the lanes that you have sole jurisdiction over major
crimes in my State, along with BIA.
Now, have you ever, as Senator Udall outlined,
declinations. I get it, you guys send the evidence on, the U.S.
Attorney makes a decision. Have you ever gone back and said,
why do we have this level of declinations - and this goes to
BIA. Who did the investigation? Why wasn't there enough
evidence? We know a crime was committed. Why is that happening?
Why is there this heavy rate of declined cases in Indian
Country?
Mr. Johnson. Ma'am, we cannot make up the evidence. The
evidence is exactly what it is, and we provide it in the
prosecutorial report. And that is what's given forward. We are
not withholding any evidence.
Senator Heitkamp. I am not suggesting you are withholding
evidence. I am suggesting because you are not there and there
isn't a response immediately, the evidence is unavailable. And
that there is a better way to do this. And if you are serious
about this, you need to pull up all these cases, including the
cold cases, and try and figure out where there were missed
steps that led to a high rate of declination and even a lower
rate of opportunity to resolve who in fact was the victim.
We are not even talking about the cases that never get
referred, the cases where there is never a suspect identified,
a case where there is never someone who you would seek
indictment on. Those cases happen all the time, they are in
files across Indian Country and in the FBI. And those aren't
even reflected in this data.
And so, this is a problem. And you are not the first FBI
official that I have had this conversation with in this room or
over at Homeland Security. This is not new. This problem is not
new.
I would suggest that if you want to come here and offer
solutions, maybe the best way would have been to pull a couple
of case files and say, what went wrong? And I would suggest
that you look at Olivia Lone Bear. And I would suggest that you
spend time with your agents in the field and find out what they
need. They need more agents. They need more help. These are
violent crimes that are being committed against Indian people.
It is going unattended to.
So I just can't say enough that this is your problem. When
cases are declined because there have been missteps on evidence
and you are the primary investigator, this is your problem. You
two need to figure out how to work together to make sure that
the evidence is ready to actually pursue prosecution. Because
when you don't have prosecution, guess what? You have
absolutely no deterrence, and it is open season on people who
live in Indian Country.
So it is a crisis. It is a problem. You guys have all
admitted to Senator Tester this is a problem. But what I see in
this testimony today is a lot of things that aren't reflected
in the reality on the ground. Because I have spent a lot of
time on the ground.
So I would say, after Savanna's Act passes, we should be
able to get protocols. You guys can start protocols now. I
applaud the Office of Justice information for the work that you
are doing to already implement it. But I am not going to be
here to be part of the oversight. But I can tell you from the
testimony that you are hearing today, there are a lot of people
on this dais who are incredibly upset that there doesn't seem
to be clearer and better answers. We are going to start with
the FBI.
So thank you, Jon, for taking this over.
Senator Tester. [Presiding.] I do not know who is next. So
whoever is next, go. Senator Smith.
STATEMENT OF HON. TINA SMITH,
U.S. SENATOR FROM MINNESOTA
Senator Smith. Thank you very much. Senator Heitkamp,
before you go, I just want to say it has been such a joy to
serve on this Committee with you. Even when you are raising
hell----
Senator Heitkamp. As I get on my broomstick and fly around
the room.
[Laughter.]
Senator Smith. Even when you are raising Cain, as my mother
used to say, I appreciate serving with you on this panel. So
go, vote. Heidi shows us that it is okay to get upset once in a
while.
I would like to ask a couple of questions. I would like to
start with Mr. LaPorte, if I could. Eighty-four percent of
American Indian and Alaska Native women have experienced
violence in their lifetimes. This is a number that comes from a
National Institute of Justice study, and a number that we have
been talking about.
Mr. LaPorte, I am wondering, does this percentage change
when we are looking at Native Americans living in urban areas,
where approximately 71 percent of American Indian and Alaska
Native people live?
Mr. LaPorte. I am not aware of any research that can
specifically tell you for sure whether the numbers vary in
those specific areas.
Senator Smith. So when cases occur in urban areas, these
typically don't fall under Federal jurisdiction, right?
Mr. LaPorte. Correct. It is my understanding that they
would fall under the State or local jurisdiction.
Senator Smith. All right. So that means that everything
that happens in urban areas doesn't get counted in our efforts
to address this crisis. I think that is something that bears
focusing on for a little bit.
Mr. LaPorte, can you state what research has the Department
of Justice done on violence against Native populations in urban
areas?
Mr. LaPorte. We have a range of research. I think probably
the best way to answer, I don't want to avoid your question.
But because we have a pretty broad portfolio in the number of
agencies at DOJ, I could be happy to provide a little more
information if your staff wants to contact us afterwards. Then
we can give you more specifics on the different types of
research that are going on.
Senator Smith. I think that is a good thing for us all to
focus on. What I am concerned about is that there isn't any
specific look at this. I understand that the Urban Indian
Health Institute completed your study, the study that you did
in about a year. The data collected in that study identified a
lot of gaps in data collection and cases that have been missed
by law enforcement.
I think that shows that there are groups out there who
understand what is happening with violence in Native
communities, who understand this trauma that is occurring,
understand the culture and the resilience of Native
communities. I think we should be funding these efforts. I
think that the DOJ should be studying what is happening here.
So is there a way that we can continue this conversation
about violence in urban communities amongst Native people?
Mr. LaPorte. Yes, absolutely. I can tell you, especially at
NIJ, we are certainly committed to getting more answers and
doing a little more research to understand these. And as I
said, there are other agencies within the department, OVW, OVC,
that are interested in these types of things as well.
Senator Smith. We will follow up on that, because I think
this is really, really important.
Mr. Johnson, a recent report by the Urban Indian Health
Institute found more than 150 cases of, I think 153, to be
exact, of missing and murdered Native women and girls that the
police completely missed. They are not in the record of law
enforcement. And that was just in 71 cities that were examined.
Can you help me understand, how is it that law enforcement
just misses cases like these?
Mr. Johnson. It is left up to the responding agency to put
whatever information they have into the record when that
individual is identified. It is voluntary. So the issue
becomes, are they fully filling out those forms so that we can
positively identify exactly who the individual is, and are they
connected to a tribe or not.
But that is all done out in the urban areas. That is not
done on the reservations themselves.
Senator Smith. But why do you think this happens?
Mr. Johnson. Because they fail to fully identify the
individual and put the information into the different systems.
Senator Smith. But why particularly this group of people?
Mr. Johnson. I wouldn't say it was specifically this group
of people, ma'am. I would say it is straight across the board
for all groups of people.
Then the issue becomes is trying to identify the
individual, if they are Indian or non-Indian. Usually what
happens, that has to go back to the tribe. And that is usually
how we find out, we, the FBI, find out that an individual out
in an urban area has been killed, and has tribal affiliation.
It is when we get those leads back that we have to go out and
interview the family members back on the reservation. Then that
is how we connect them back to this urban area.
Senator Smith. Okay. Well, in my State, there has been a
recent GAO trafficking report, confirmed that in Minneapolis,
when Minneapolis police make a concerted effort, as they have,
and which they did do starting in 2012, to meet with tribal
leaders and service providers who worked with Native American
communities to really demonstrate their willingness to
investigate trafficking crimes, they found that with that
coordination that they were able to make real headway. So I
think this is a model that we ought to be looking at, as we try
to figure out better ways to have better coordination.
Mr. Johnson. Yes, ma'am.
Senator Smith. I think I am out of town - town and time,
Mr. Chair.
[Laughter.]
Senator Tester. Since you are the last one, you can keep
going if you want. But I think we will move on to the next
panel, even though I am not the chair or ranking member.
Senator Smith. [Presiding] I think, yes, that is right.
Vice Chair Udall has handed the chair responsibilities over to
me, is that right? So I want to thank this panel very much,
first panel, for testifying. We will now turn to our second
panel.
Senator Tester. Madam Vice Chairman, I would just insert
one thing in closing.
Senator Smith. Oh, yes, please.
Senator Tester. So we have had issues in Indian Country. We
have issues of poverty, we have issues of drugs. I think we
have issues in those areas, and with adequate manpower with
tribal law enforcement. We have to find solutions.
By the way, if I am wrong on any of those, prove me wrong.
But we have to find a solution to this. We have to. I would
encourage you all to stay and listen to the next panel. Because
they are going to tell you their frustrations from their end,
which is on the ground, of a missing person.
So thank you, and thank you, Ms. Vice Chair.
Senator Smith. Thank you very much. And thank you to our
first panel.
I would like to welcome our second panel to the table.
The Chairman. [Presiding] All right, we will begin our
second panel. And as you know, we have votes going on. Those of
us that are here now have voted twice, I think we are good for
the time being. Others are now going back for the second vote
and will rejoin us. But we will go ahead and begin with our
second panel. Again, I want to thank you for being here today
and testifying.
For our second panel today, we have three witnesses. The
Honorable Amber Crotty, Delegate, Navajo Nation Council, Window
Rock, Arizona. Thank you for being here. Ms. Patricia
Alexander, Co-Chair of Violence Against Women Task Force,
Central Council, of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska,
Juneau, Alaska. Thank you for being here.
And Ms. Kimberly Loring-Heavy Runner, Missoula, Montana,
and I am going to turn to Senator Daines for an introduction
for you.
Senator Daines. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Welcome, Kimberly.
Kimberly is a member of the Blackfeet Tribe, the highlight of
Montana. Kimberly is a sister of Ashley Loring-Heavy Runner, a
missing indigenous woman who disappeared in June of 2017. After
nine months of no information, the FBI finally stepped in to
help the investigation in March of this year.
Ashley was planning to transfer to the University of
Montana with Kimberly to study environmental science, so she
could help take care of her homeland. Kimberly has been working
diligently to find her sister and raise awareness in Montana
and around the Nation about her case. Kimberly has logged more
than 40, 40 searches for her sister. She has hiked mountains,
she has hiked fields. She has been in the snow, she has been in
the rain while avoiding grizzly bears, literally, to chase any
rumor that may help find her sister.
I am thankful that Kimberly has agreed to share her story
with this Committee today, a story unfortunately that is all
too familiar.
The Chairman. With that, we will proceed to our witnesses.
We will begin with Ms. Crotty.
STATEMENT OF HON. AMBER CROTTY, DELEGATE, NAVAJO NATION COUNCIL
Ms. Crotty. Thank you, Chairman Hoeven. Amber Kanazbah
Crotty, [greeting in Native tongue.] I am the Navajo Nation
Council delegate and chairwoman of our sexual assault
subcommittee on the Navajo Nation.
To Chairman Hoeven, Ranking Member Udall and Committee
members, [greeting in Native tongue], I thank you for your
commitment to prioritize public safety for Indian Country as it
pertains to missing and murdered indigenous women. And to our
Federal partners, while I appreciate some of the testimony and
your asking them to remain in the room, it is quite clear on
their departure and how that reflects in terms of their
commitment and their relationship to Indian Country, to Navajo
Nation and to our family members who are on the ground.
Senator Tester. For the record, Charles Addington, the BIA
man, stayed in the room, and I want to recognize that. But you
are right, the other two left. Thank you.
Ms. Crotty. I appreciate that, Senator Tester.
We recognize and appreciate your tireless efforts on
working on behalf of Indian Country. I would like to take this
opportunity to thank this Committee for holding this hearing
regarding this critical issue.
I am here today on behalf of the Navajo Nation to implore
this Committee to intervene to stop the alarming rates of our
tribal members who turn up missing or murdered. Our nation
continues to observe first-hand the outcomes that stem from the
lack of resources that exist to maintain data bases on
indigenous missing persons, or the failure to cross multiple
jurisdictions, State, tribal, county, Federal, to effectively
communicate with nations, with our nation, to coordinate
efforts to reduce the loss of our women, our children and our
community members.
I wear this yellow scarf in honor of our baby girl, Ashley
Mike, who was taken from us in 2016, when her and her brother
Ian were abducted and ultimately, we found her, murdered in our
community. Then later on that year, in 2017, we lost Ariel
Begay. She went missing and her remains were ultimately found,
and her case is still under investigation. It took the medical
examiner nearly ten months to try to identify her cause of
death. But yet her family still mourns for her and there are
still unanswered questions.
Recently we discovered another Navajo woman, Marena
Holiday, who was murdered in Comb Ridge, Utah, in November 2015
by her neighbor, was shot and then dragged to her death. Not
only are Navajo women being victimized, but there is an
alarming rate of missing and murdered transgendered Navajo
women.
In 2005 and 2009, there were three Navajo transgendered
women who were missing in Albuquerque, and later found
murdered, all within a block of one another. As you can see,
this epidemic of violence against our women is not just limited
to Indian Country, Navajo Nation Dine `Ta, but it also is
prevalent in urban areas. I appreciate the effort of Senator
Heitkamp in looking at how, and asking the tough questions, and
making sure that our Federal partners are accountable and on
the ground, know what is happening and the struggle in terms of
not only the time and place it takes our Federal partners to
address these issues, but then to look at what additional
resources need to be called in. We consider this not only a
public health crisis, but a crisis against our future
generation.
We have complications in determining criminal jurisdiction
on tribal lands. A primary issue is determining who has the
legal authority between tribal police, State law enforcement
and Federal agents.
Baby girl Ashlynn Mike's case is a primary example of
jurisdictional complications resulting in a delay of response
time in rendering not only an Amber alert system, but then
ultimately looking and coordinating the tribal, State, Federal
search and rescue team for her. These same jurisdictional
complications result in law enforcement officials at the State
and local level not enforcing protection orders, restraining
orders and valid orders outside of the Navajo Nation
jurisdiction.
As I end, I want to say we need help for victim advocates.
On Navajo we have only about five BIA agents, in a State the
size of West Virginia, and only six advocates to help them in
the work that they are doing. We need to be able to move in and
help these victims with funding to help them with relief, to
help them find their loved one and then to help them to the
journey narrative.
Thank you very much. I appreciate this time, Chairman
Hoeven. I know I went past, and I do have more recommendations.
So I look forward, and [phrase in Native tongue.]
[The prepared statement of Ms. Crotty follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Amber Crotty, Delegate, Navajo Nation
Council
Introduction
Chairman Hoeven, Ranking Member Udall, Members of the Committee,
thank you for this opportunity to testify on behalf of the Navajo
Nation to address missing and murdered people in Indian Country. I am
Navajo Nation Council Delegate Amber Kanazbah Crotty and I thank you
for your commitment to prioritize public safety for Indian Country as
it pertains to missing and murdered indigenous people. We recognize and
appreciate your tireless efforts working on behalf of Tribes and would
like to take this opportunity to thank this Committee for holding this
hearing.
The Navajo Nation urgently appeals to this Committee to intervene
to stop the increasing alarming rates of missing or murdered tribal
members throughout Indian Country. Our Tribe continues to observe
firsthand the disastrous outcome from the lack of resources that exist
for states to maintain databases on indigenous missing persons or the
failure across jurisdictions to effectively communicate to coordinate
efforts to reduce the loss of Native American lives.
Background
The Navajo Nation is the largest land-based Tribe in the United
States that spans over 27,427 square-miles across three states
(Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah) with over 350,000 enrolled members. The
Nation is comprised of 110 Chapters, also known as communities or local
governments within the Navajo Nation. In New Mexico, there are an
additional 80,000 enrolled members that reside in dependent Navajo
communities, allotments, and border towns. Today, the Nation suffers
from unemployment rates at about 42 percent and the median annual
household income is approximately $20,000. \1\ Across the Navajo
Nation, 61-percent of homes do not have electricity, 22-percent of
households have telephones, and only 15-percent of households have
computers. \2\ Further complicating access to victim services, only 24-
percent of residents over the age of 18 have access to a vehicle and
the closest available victim services are generally hours away. Annual
reporting to the FBI indicates violent crime rates have fallen by 48-
percent over the past 25 years, and this same data indicates that
violent crime is on the rise on the Nation. From 2010-2016, over 44.1-
percent of calls to the Navajo Department of Public Safety (NDPS)
involved violence, and alcohol underlies almost all of this violent
crime.
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\1\ https://navajobusiness.com/fastFacts/Overview.htm
\2\ https://transition.fcc.gov/cgb/rural/presentations/
ONSAT2OverviewofNNHeadStartTechnologyPlan.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Navajo Nation is currently far from having sufficient public
safety resources to adequately respond to reported crimes.
Significantly, there are fewer than 200 Navajo police officers and 30
Criminal Investigators for the entire Navajo reservation. Given the on-
reservation population, there are 0.85 officers per every 1,000
individuals, which is less than \1/3\ of the national average of 3
officers per every 1,000 individuals. The Navajo Nation Police
Department's most recent annual crime reports illustrate the increase
of violent crimes on the Nation--particularly homicides. Navajo
Criminal Investigations responds to approximately 30-50 homicides per
year within the Nation's boundaries, which represents a homicide rate
well above the national average (20-33 homicides per 100,000 people
compared to 6-13 per 100,000 nationally). Based on the most recent
census data, the homicide rate on the Navajo Nation is four times the
national average. The Navajo Police Department averaged 226,450 total
calls for service over the past four years:
Navajo Police Department-Annual Reported Calls for Service
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Offense 2017 2016 2015 2014
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Homicide 32 24 20 3
Rape 264 319 294 316
Robbery 40 26 23 22
Aggravated Assault 417 417 492 152
Burglary 893 738 728 895
Larceny 904 896 690 1,036
Motor Vehicle Theft 1,270 1,077 730 744
Arson 352 349 292 338
Assaults 472 417 442 464
Weapons 701 687 661 773
Sex Offenses 2,023 1,705 1,499 1,754
Child Abuse 917 1,092 1,167 1,058
Domestic Violence 5,351 5,119 4,628 4,658
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total 13,636 12,866 11,666 12,213
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Grand Total of Calls for 234,137 218,810 213,692 239,161
Service
------------------------------------------------------------------------
These alarming statistics help illustrate why the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) reported that Navajo Nation has one of the most
violent crimes in Indian Country with 2,524 violent crimes; 2,311
aggravated assaults; and 160 rapes reported to law enforcement in 2017.
\3\ Thus, violent crimes and crimes against women such as rape is
comparable to major metropolitan areas such as Detroit and San Diego,
proportionate to population. \4\
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\3\ https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2017/crime-in-the-u.s.-
2017/tables/table-11/table-11-state-cuts/arizona.xls
\4\ Laurel Morales, ``Navajo Nation, Feds Take on Overwhelming
Violent Crimes'' Fronteras: The Changing America Desk (March 01, 2013).
Accessed at: http://kj.org/content/6821/navajo-nation-feds-take-
overwhelming-violent-crime
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Violence Against Navajo Women
Gender-biased violence on the Navajo Nation is a multi-generational
and culturally pervasive phenomenon. Similarly to our national
counterparts, the true rates of violence against women are not
accurately reflected in data since many victims of domestic violence
(DV) or dating violence fail to report their abuser due to fear for
their safety (i.e. retaliation), shame over their situation, or
involvement of alcohol or drugs at the time of the incident.
Administration of targeted victim services for DV, dating violence, and
sexual assault has likely led to increased reporting of DV and sex
offenses in recent years. Women who have been victimized are starting
to trust that they will be supported, heard, and believed due to
program implementation like Am D cents cents Alch!n! B!ghan, Inc.
(ADABI) on the Nation. For example, ADABI has had positive impacts on
our community in the Chinle Agency over the past years. In this
community, reporting of sexual assault incidents have increased by 75
percent from 3 total reports during 2010-2012, to 12 total reports
during 2014-2015. We believe this increase is a result of the efforts
of ADABI to increase community awareness, build knowledge and skills
among community partners about how to effectively respond to domestic
violence and sexual assault.
Poverty, low educational attainment, addiction, unresolved trauma,
and the emergence of gang culture, all contribute to the perpetuation
of the culture of violence against women and girls within the Navajo
Nation. Notably, if more victims are now coming forward, then violent
crime rates are even worse than currently reported. This information is
extremely concerning because it illustrates the battle that the Navajo
Nation is currently engaging in to combat domestic violence and violent
crimes across the reservation, but also demonstrates a need to ensure
protections for children and law enforcement, as well.
Missing and Murdered Navajo Nation Members
Generally, victim services on the Navajo Nation consist of a
``patchwork'' of extremely limited support services that cannot meet
the high demand for services. The Navajo Nation currently does not have
the ability to provide comprehensive victim services to all victims of
crime, as its sole funding source is strictly limited to services for
intimate-partner violence. Consequently, the few existing services are
almost exclusively for victims of domestic violence (DV), dating
violence, and sexual assault. There are no on-reservation services for
victims of violent crimes, crimes against children, etc. In reality,
many simply go without support. Overall, initial crisis intervention
and safety planning is performed by an array of critically under-
resourced service providers whom are limited in scope and availability
of resources. To further complicate matters, victims face significant
barriers to access, including: extremely limited phone and Internet
access; Navajo-to-English language barriers; long-distance travel; and
lack of transportation. \5\
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\5\ Note: Native victims are often unwilling to travel off-
reservation for services for a variety of reasons, including long
distances from family and jobs, lack of culturally appropriate
training/programs, and language barriers.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Provided below are only a couple incidents of missing and murdered
enrolled members of the Navajo Nation. Although the ages of each
individual, geographical location, and date the persons were reported
missing vastly differs in each case. The significant shortcomings in
each case remains the same: law enforcements' delayed response and
jurisdictional complications.
11-year-old Ashlynne Mike was kidnapped with her 9-year-old
brother in Shiprock, New Mexico in May 2016. After a couple
found Ashlynne's 9-year-old brother scared and walking on the
side of the road, he was taken to the Navajo Nation Police
Department in Shiprock where they proceeded to coordinate with
local law enforcement. Hours later, when the Farmington Police
Department was notified of the missing child, it was clear no
information had been shared. Eight hours after Ashlynne went
missing, an AMBER Alert mass notification was finally issued at
2:30 A.M.
26-year-old Amber Webster, a married mother-of-three, was
murdered in Florence, Kentucky on December 2018. Amber was
employed as a construction worker that had traveled out of
state to provide income to her family on the Navajo Nation. 32-
year-old Jesse James brutally stabbed her to death while
staying at the same hotel as her. The two had no prior
interactions with one another prior to the incident.
26-year-old Katczinzki Ariel Begay went missing in July 2017
on the eastern edge of the Navajo Nation reservation in
Arizona. Ariel was picked up from her residence by her
boyfriend and never came back home. Efforts were been made by
law enforcement and a search ensued on the Navajo Nation, New
Mexico, and Arizona. However, sadly, her remains were found in
October 2017 in Querino Canyon, Arizona. Her case remains
unsolved today.
23-year-old Ryan Shey Hoskie, 42-year-old Teri Benally, and
32-year old Fredrick Watson were three transgender Navajo
Nation members who were found beaten to death in Albuquerque,
New Mexico in January 2005, July 2009, and June 2009
respectively. All three victims' bodies were found in the
Southeastern-side town within a block of one another laying in
the street or allies. The details of each of their deaths
remain unknown and no suspects were detained for their
slayings.
63-year-old Marena Holiday, mother of three and grandmother,
was murdered in Comb Ridge, Utah on December 2015. Marena was
killed within the boundaries of the Navajo Nation after she was
beaten then shot in the head by a neighbor. In disposing of the
body, the perpetrator tied a rope around Holiday's ankles to
the back of his truck and dragged her body to hide under a
tree. She was found the next day and the perpetrator was later
indicted by a federal grand jury for first-degree murder and
sentenced to just 22 years in prison.
Jurisdictional Complexities
Complications in determining criminal jurisdiction on tribal land
is a primary issue in determining who has legal authority between
tribal police, state law enforcement, and federal agents. Ashlynne
Mike's case is a primary example of jurisdictional complications and a
delayed response time in rendering an AMBER Alert for a missing
persons' notification through tribal-statefederal responses. \6\
Additionally, in cases where Native Americans represent only 1.6
percent of the state's population, geographical complexities are
magnetized since many reservations are located in extremely rural
locations within state boundaries.
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\6\ Note: In child abduction cases, 76-percent of those kidnapped
are killed within 3 hours of abduction denoting the need for expedient
state-tribal collaboration on searches and issuance of information to
save lives.
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Due to the Nation's expansive geographical distances across three
separate states and limited police force, it takes Navajo law
enforcement hours to respond to criminal activity because it can exceed
the capacity and resources of current law enforcement. This includes a
vital problem of the Navajo Nation to facilitate active relationships
with law enforcement between federal, state, local municipalities to
effectively share information exists as a persistent issue. Currently,
there is no mode of communication that exists between the Nation and
law enforcement outside of the reservation boundaries, which leads to a
continued loss of lives by way of jurisdictional miscommunication.
These same jurisdictional complications result in law enforcement
officials at the local and state level to not enforcing restraining or
protection orders issued through the Nation's courts as valid orders of
protection outside the boundaries of the reservation. These
circumstances leave victims feeling ignored and with the false
impression that the police and court system do not care about them, as
well as contributes to the now prevailing culture of impunity among
criminal offenders. The establishment of a State-Tribal
Intergovernmental Task Force and/or Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA)
for crossjurisdictional coordination is vital to reduce wasted time and
communication amongst law enforcement. The Navajo Nation also estimates
that the one-time funding allocation of $5 million for upgrading and
integrating all public safety partners to facilitate communication
systems across jurisdictional boundaries for faster response times in
locating missing persons.
Lack of Victim Advocates and Supportive Family Services
All available victim services on the Nation are specifically for
domestic/dating violence and sexual assault. The Navajo Nation
currently does not have the ability to provide comprehensive victim
services to all victims of crime, as its sole funding source is
strictly limited to services for intimate-partner violence. Currently,
non-Indians generally have to go off reservation to receive victim
services. Due to limited internal resources, the Navajo Nation must
rely on third-party service providers to ``fill the gaps'' to provide
additional on-reservation services, including emergency shelter and
advocates. The available on-reservation victim services are
administered by three providers: (1) Navajo Nation Division of Social
Services' Strengthening Families Program (SFP); (2) Ama Doo Alchini
B!ghan, Inc. (ADABI) in Chinle; (3) and Tohdenasshai Committee Against
Family Abuse in Kayenta, which are both non-profit organizations. More
information on these programs is provided below:
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Collectively, ADABI and Tohdenasshai Committee Against Family Abuse
provide two short-term, emergency shelters and one ``safe home'' on the
Navajo Nation for victims of domestic/dating violence, and sexual
assault. In total, there are less than 30 available beds and the ``safe
home'' has a maximum 5-7 night stay in a motel. These non-profit
service providers receive referrals from the ER, law enforcement,
Navajo Social Services, and other local service providers. They are
critical partners who provide transportation, safety planning, court
support, and help filing protection orders. For example, ADABI received
and responded to 648 requests for service in 2017, which accounts for
8.5 percent of the total number of DV calls to 911 on the Nation. In
2017, ADABI advocates logged 241 transportation hours in 2017, which
equates to six weeks of non-stop driving for a service provider.
Navajo Nation Division of Social Services ensures social services
are available to needy families living on or near the reservation to
reduce and alleviate hardships to ensure self-sufficiency. \7\ Out of
the eight programs that the Division offers to meet this purpose, the
Strengthening Families Program (SFP) \8\ is the only Navajo-
administered victim-service provider on the reservation. It provides
culturally holistic advocacy, supporting services, prevention education
and safe shelters. \9\ However, this program has budgetary limitations
that has resulted in the inability for the Nation to provide victim
advocates to children and families that are negatively impacted by
domestic violence and missing and murdered people. In May 2018, SFP
opened a 24/7 residential emergency shelter in Shiprock, NM called the
Northern T.R.E.E (Teaching Responsibilities, Empowerment and Equality)
House. This is the only emergency shelter directly administered by the
Navajo Nation. The shelter has been at capacity since its opening with
only four beds and staffed by five advocates where two advocates work
at a time and they rotate split shifts to provide 24/7 services. While
on duty, the two advocates must simultaneously answer calls to the 24/7
Crisis Line, intake new victims, and provide the full spectrum of
support services, including responding to crisis calls both in the
field and at the shelter, crisis intervention, safety planning,
referrals, transportation, court support, and help filing temporary
protection orders. Typically, one advocate will be transporting a
victim, leaving only one advocate to run the shelter. If a crisis
situation arises, no one is available to respond to the victim until
the advocate providing transportation returns.
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\7\ http://www.nndss.navajo-nsn.gov/Home.aspx
\8\ Established in October 2016.
\9\ http://www.nndss.navajo-nsn.gov/DSSPrograms/
StrengtheningFamiliesProgram/SFPHome.aspx
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The Nation also employs 5 Mobile Victim Witness Advocates (VWA) who
are responsible for assisting victims within the Navajo Nation with
SFP-program services, including crisis intervention, safety planning,
shelter placement, transportation (transport to shelter, counseling,
court, SANE exams etc.), court support, referrals, home visits, and
filing temporary protection orders. If there is a federal criminal
case, VWAs may coordinate with Navajo Criminal Investigations, FBI, and
U.S. Attorney's Offices. There is one VWA for each Region of the Navajo
Reservation (see map below), meaning each advocate's coverage area is
approximately 5,485 square miles.
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Given current crime rates, population size, and land base, SFP
estimates it would need a minimum of 4-6 VWAs per Region to provide
adequate, comprehensive services across the Navajo Nation. Presently,
each VWA's coverage area is more than 20 Chapters and advocates may
travel hundreds of miles daily. On average, an advocate spends at least
half a day with a victim for intervention and safety planning, while
shelter transports take all day and average 400-miles roundtrip.
Mobile advocates' individual capacity to respond is further limited
as there is only one tribal vehicle for all five of the VWAs. VWAs
currently share office space with staff in another Navajo department,
which makes ensuring client confidentiality very difficult as the
advocates gather information and conduct interviews. Because there are
not enough VWAs or resources to respond to the overall need, VWAs must
``triage'' and prioritize their case load. In practice, this means that
VWAs are sometimes not able to provide requested support within a
reasonable period of time, if at all. \10\ Despite this overwhelmingly
burdened system, out of 13,636 calls for service for violent offenses,
SFP received and responded to 5,670 DV-related service calls, which
demonstrates the Navajo government provided some form of direct victim
services and support to at least 41.6 percent of victims of violent
crime on the reservation.
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\10\ Note: Further, the scope and available access to services of
these providers varies depending on location and the daily capacity of
mobile advocates and shelter services. Typically, any requests for
mobile support services usually take many hours or even days before
they get to the victim.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In reality, many victim services are only available off-
Reservation, including services for victims of violent crime, crimes
against children, and human trafficking. The Navajo Nation currently
subcontracts with multiple off-reservation service providers to provide
additional victim services. Providing victim services off-reservation
poses additional challenges, especially because many Native victims
will not use off-reservation services for a variety of reasons,
including long distances from family and jobs, lack of culturally
appropriate programming, and language barriers. Ultimately, many crime
victims on Navajo do not get the help or support they deserve and need.
Historically, victim advocate funding has only temporarily been
funded through grants. When the grants run out the advocate leaves and
the victims are unable to build a stable point of contact, it
diminishes the effectiveness of support services and sustainability of
the program. Previously, the Nation requested a 3- year grant in the
amount of $14 million to implement a comprehensive victim advocate
system, but only received $2 million. This funding assists the Nation
in being proactive in preventing domestic violence and providing
housing and program options for families through educational and
departmental programs offered to our citizens like the Home for Women
and Children in Shiprock, New Mexico and the Gentle Ironhawk Shelter in
Blanding, Utah purchased by the Navajo Nation. \11\ The current
estimate for victim services on Navajo Nation are currently $4.6
million dollars per year.
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\11\ https://nativenewsonline.net/currents/navajo-nation-president-
begaye-signs-closing-documents-to-purchase-gentle-ironhawkdomestic-
violence-shelter/
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Lastly, another unresolved issue exists to increase critical access
and supportive services to families with missing family members and
those whom are experiencing the after-effects of domestic violence or
intimate partner abuse. There are no resources available for Native
American families to gain access to in locating their missing family
members and navigating through the complexities of the tribal-state-
federal law enforcement systems and databases is problematic even at
agencies.
Navajo Nation Courts, Prosecutors, and Public Defenders
Navajo Nation Courts domestic violence cases amount to 12 percent
of the entire caseload on the Navajo Nation, which is a 4 percent
increase since 2010. Only 14 prosecutors handle criminal court cases in
eleven different judicial districts. From January 1, 2018 to December
7, 2018, the Navajo Nation prosecutors received 1,575 cases to review
for domestic violence charges alone and filed 999 cases. This is an
increase from the 2017 calendar during which prosecutors received 1,180
DV cases for review and filed 848. \12\
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\12\ See--''Navajo Nation Reponse to Request for Additional
Information Regarding Needs for the Office of the Prosecutor,'' dated
November 13, 2018.
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Based on this excessive criminal caseload in the Nation's courts,
our Tribe has not implemented the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)
that would allow us to prosecute non-Indian offenders involved in
domestic violence incidents within the boundaries of the reservation.
The implementation of VAWA highlights a fundamental issue in tribal
courts across the nation: the lack of funding and resources available
in tribal public safety and court systems to adequately protect our
citizens. For example, the estimate of additional caseload initiated
through VAWA implementation would cost the Navajo Nation up to $10
million/year. The increased costs of implementation would go towards
hiring additional personnel, attorneys/judges, employee training,
programmatic restructuring, facility upgrades, and technological
updates for our outdated equipment. $1.6 million is needed to expand
prosecutorial resources and provide victim advocate services that are
currently unavailable.
Database Development
Navajo Nation organizes police data through the Navajo Police
Department Information Management Section. Current data study requests
from outside law enforcement agencies are exceedingly difficult to
provide because the Nation's current data tracking system is
incompatible with the requested type of data search information.
Additionally, due to the lack of available resources, the Nation's
paper filing system is cumbersome to hand count and subject to human
error. These issues directly contribute to the difficulties in
identifying missing persons and updating information for public safety
departments outside Navajo Nation's jurisdiction. The cost of updating
our system into one Record Management Server would cost the Nation
approximately $5 million dollars. Further, supplementary funding to
include 11 employees to conduct crime analysis within the Information
Management Section of the Navajo Police Department plus support
equipment costs would cost close to $1 million. The additional
personnel would provide insight as to how law enforcement and
investigations can be more proactive in addressing current crime trends
within the Navajo Nation.
The National Crime Information Center, a crime database for law
enforcement that includes missing persons; and the National Missing and
Unidentified Persons System are two national databases that compile
information of missing and murdered indigenous people. However, due to
the inaccuracy of these systems, the collection of this data falls on
the efforts of activist and advocacy groups. Currently, the United
States does not have a reliable database or methodology of obtaining
statistics on the number of missing and murdered indigenous people.
Although the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) operates the public
National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) database, the
data it receives is provided on a volunteer basis throughout
inconsistent jurisdictions. NamUs is the closest platform that the
federal government has established to collect and centralize data of
Native Americans and Alaskan Natives, but remains inefficient and
inaccurate due to the reporting and jurisdictional issues discussed
above. Further, state databases that voluntarily track this information
on a voluntary basis are inaccurate, as well. Six out of 10 state
databases are not updated. This issue is further complicated by
jurisdictional complications determining who is responsible for data
collection and adequate identification of Native American heritage.
Tribal Access Program (TAP) Development
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) launched the Tribal Access
Program (TAP) pilot project for National Crime Information in August
2015 to provide Tribes with access to national crime information
systems for both criminal and civil purposes. This allows Tribes to
exchange data to protect their citizens through data exchange via the
Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) system (federal component)
and via state databases in which they are connected. Out of 55 Tribes
that applied for funding through the DOJ for this program, DOJ selected
the Navajo Nation to receive 2 kiosk systems in November 2017.
Currently, the Navajo Nation has these two Tribal Access Program (TAP)
kiosks installed on the reservation at: 1) Division of Social Services
in Window Rock, AZ; and 2) Judicial building in Chinle, AZ. The
possibility of expanding the number of databases to track this
information on the Navajo Nation are taking place to add 5 to 7 more
kiosks.
The upcoming expansion of the TAP program on the Navajo Nation
presents an opportunity for congressional leaders to expand the program
to develop a database to adequately track missing Navajo citizens and
compile information to share across jurisdictional boundaries. The
issue that arises in this instance is that Navajo Nation law
enforcement has a responsibility of entering the voluminous amount of
data of tribal court convictions. The inclusion of a database to track
missing and murdered citizens would require a dedicated funding stream
for our severely underfunded public safety program to operate and meet
CJIS security requirements. Further, a DOJ tribal technical assistance
program and annual update program is needed to educate on the already
existing gaps in TAP.
additional service gaps to consider
1Navajo Department of Medical Examiners
The Nation does not have an Office of the Medical Investigator
(OMI). Deceased individuals have to be transported approximately 4
hours to a state facility for autopsy and, if there is no foul play
involved in the case and the FBI pays for the autopsy, then there are
only limited funds in which Navajo Criminal Investigations works with
the families to get answers as to the nature of how their loved ones
passed away. In order to establish an OMI within the Navajo Nation, the
projection is $4 million start up and thereafter have an annual
operating budget of $1.5 million. Contracting with the area state OMI
offices is not feasible or practical. \13\
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\13\ See, Navajo Nation Legis. 0321-18 establishing Department of
Medical Examiners enacted October 2018.
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Federal Crime Data Analysis
The Navajo Nation can request services from the FBI to analyze the
evidence of a federal crime at a crime lab. However, if the prosecution
of the crime remains within the jurisdiction of the Navajo Nation, no
funding exists to analyze the data. Further, the Nation does not have
any crime labs to conduct the analysis. The Navajo Nation estimates
that approximately $1 million in additional funding for criminal data
analysis is needed.
Another key aspect of a fully functional Navajo OMI would allow us
to also sift through missing persons cases on our Nation that could
potentially be of use to outside agencies who are searching for missing
persons, and vice versa. For instance, NamUS allows participating
agencies to utilize their program to go through data of missing persons
and Jane/John Doe's, thus increasing the chances of finding missing
loved ones who may be deceased.
Conclusion
The problem of missing and murdered people in Indian country
continues to grow every year. Congress and the federal government,
along with Indian tribes, need to address this now in order to curb the
problem. In light of my testimony, we suggest the following:
1. Provide intergovernmental resources or establish State-
Tribal tasks forces to increase communication between Tribes
and states/local municipality law enforcement to determine
jurisdictional reporting responsibilities.
2. Increase critical access and create effective federal
systems that provide resources and information sharing for
families who are in the process of locating their missing
family members.
3. Increase access and funding for support services for the
families of missing and murdered people and safe house shelters
for domestic violence survivors.
4. Significantly increase funding for tribal courts to expand
prosecutorial resources and provide victim advocate services
that are currently unavailable.
5. Significantly increase funding for a dedicated funding
stream for the Tribal Access Program (TAP) for Indian tribes to
expand data sharing across jurisdictional boundaries to
comprehensively operate and meet CJIS security requirements.
Thank you for providing me the opportunity to testify before the
committee. Ahehee Thank you.
The Chairman. That is fine, and you will have an
opportunity to present more, as well, with the questions and
answers.
Now we will turn to Ms. Patricia Alexander, co-chair of the
Violence Against Women Task Force. Ms. Alexander.
STATEMENT OF PATRICIA ALEXANDER, CO-CHAIR, VIOLENCE AGAINST
WOMEN TASK FORCE, CENTRAL COUNCIL OF TLINGIT AND HAIDA INDIAN
TRIBES OF ALASKA
Ms. Alexander. Thank you. Greetings from Alaska. My name is
Patricia Alexander. I am the co-chair of the Violence Against
Women Task Force of the Central Council of Tlingit & Haida
Indian Tribes of Alaska. I appreciate the opportunity testify
today.
Our president, Richard Peterson, asked me to convey his
thanks to Senator Murkowski and to Chairman Hoeven, and the
other members of the Committee for working toward meaningful
solutions that promote the well-being of Native women. I join
him in thanking Senator Heitkamp for her leadership in
Savanna's Act. It is a privilege to meet you in person. That
bill is an important first step in addressing missing and
murdered Native women.
While violence against Native women occurs at higher rates
than any other ethnic group in the United States, it is at its
worst in Alaska. A full 50 percent of Alaska Native women have
experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. I am
one.
Tlingit & Haida is all too familiar with the corrosive
effect that this violence has on our community, our culture,
our way of life. It has been more than a year since the
unsolved death of 19-year old Jade Williams of Kake; nearly a
year since the unsolved death of 37-year old Francile Turpin of
Klawock; two and a half years since the murder of 28-year old
Judylee Guthrie in Klawock. The future of Indian County depends
on whether all of us work together to ensure that Native women
live in environments that are free of such rampant,
unaccountable violence.
As co-chair of the Task Force, I have begun conducting
research to find out how missing and murdered indigenous women
are identified and cases tracked. To my surprise, I have
learned that law enforcement in Alaska does not track the
ethnic backgrounds of victims of violence. I further learned
that there is no data sharing between law enforcement and a
victim's tribe where P.L. 280 states that we don't have tribal
law enforcement.
Moreover, despite the efforts of some domestic violence
shelters to share ethnic and tribal data that they have
compiled, the State has yet to effectively use that data to
better focus its services for Native victims. It is not a
priority for the State of Alaska.
The police agencies tell us that they only collect data on
violence against women if they make an arrest, and open a case.
That means that there is no data, no record, in many cases of
domestic violence and sexual assault in Native communities
where there is little or no law enforcement presence. Victims
are not being treated, and repeat violence is not being
deterred. This is shocking; it is unacceptable. Just because a
perpetrator cannot be identified and arrested does not mean a
victim cannot be identified and served. The rights of victims
should not be denied because law enforcement fails to apprehend
perpetrators. Law enforcement must track this information.
The geographical remoteness of Alaska is another factor in
making data collection difficult. Tlingit & Haida serves 20
villages and communities spread over 43,000 square miles within
southeast Alaska. Our service population is among the largest,
most isolated, most geographically dispersed tribal population
in Indian Country. Because of this, there is no 911 to call;
there are no Amber alerts if a child goes missing. Native
villages rely heavily on village public safety officers and
community members who are the first, and in some cases, the
only, responders to incidents of domestic violence and sexual
assault.
However, not every community has a VPSO. This limits data
collection. The failure to collect victim data makes it
difficult to tailor our treatment programs and services to
proactively provide Alaska Native women with resources that can
save their lives.
So in conclusion, I ask this Committee, along with the
recommendations in my written testimony, that you work with the
Appropriations Committee to provide targeted funding to tribal
governments like Tlingit & Haida to conduct research, collect
data, coordinate reporting between tribal governments and law
enforcement agencies, establish a pilot for at least one Alaska
tribe to exercise special domestic violence jurisdiction, where
upon conclusion of the planning phase, the tribe would seek
certification from the Department of Justice. Work closely with
the Alaska delegation and the Alaska Native Women's Resource
Center to ensure that any jurisdictional fix addresses the
unique needs of Alaska Native communities. Finally, law
enforcement needs to be held to the best practices for data
collection.
I want to say that Alaska has the dubious distinction of
being the worst. And I think that is important to remember at
budget time. Don't treat us like everyone else. We are the
worst. We have the worst problems in terms of being on islands
and landlocked, only available by boat or plane, affected by
weather. The tribes and the VPSOs are trying, they are doing
what they can. But they don't have resources to do what they
must do.
I believe that in Anchorage, the police there were very
helpful in the data collection that was done by the Seattle
Urban Center. I believe that local authorities will cooperate
with us if we can have the resources to address the problem.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Alexander follows:]
Prepared Statement of Patricia Alexander, Co-Chair, Violence Against
Women Task Force, Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of
Alaska
GREETINGS FROM ALASKA! My name is Patricia Alexander. I am the Co-
Chair of the Violence Against Women Task Force (VAWTF) of the Central
Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska (``Tlingit &
Haida'' or ``Tribe''). Thank you for inviting me to testify on behalf
of my Tribe. Our President, the Honorable Richard J. Peterson, sends
you his greetings and gratitude for the attention this Committee has
placed on this topic of such vital importance to the future wellbeing
of our Tribe.
Tlingit & Haida is a federally-recognized tribal government with
over 30,000 citizens worldwide, and has an active, government to
government relationship with the United States. The Tribe serves 18
villages and communities spread over 43,000 square miles within
Southeast Alaska. More than 7,000 tribal citizens reside in Juneau,
with several thousand more located in Anchorage. Beyond that, the vast
majority of tribal citizens reside in Washington State, and smaller
numbers stretch into Oregon and the rest of the world. Tlingit & Haida
tribal citizens are among the largest, most isolated, and most
geographically dispersed tribal populations nationwide. In Southeast
Alaska, where the Tribe provides the majority of its services, most
communities have no roads in or out, and must rely on planes and boats
for both day-to-day needs and emergencies.
I have dedicated much of my professional work life to providing
much-needed health and social services to our tribal citizens. I have
worked in tribal social service programs for Tlingit & Haida as well as
for the Sitka Tribe. I have also served in a tribal treatment center in
Arizona, and have engaged in hospital administration for the Southeast
Alaska Regional Health Consortium.
Tlingit & Haida wishes to commend our own Senator Lisa Murkowski,
along with Chairman John Hoeven, Vice Chairman Tom Udall and other
members of this Committee for continuing to work in partnership with
Tlingit & Haida and others in Indian Country to identify meaningful
solutions that promote the well-being of Native women and children. I
would also like to thank Senator Heidi Heitkamp for her leadership on
S. 1942, Savanna's Act, and to all those on this Committee for working
so hard to pass this measure in the Senate last week. This bill is an
important first step in assisting federal, state, local, and tribal law
enforcement to apply the appropriate justice protocols needed to
address missing and murdered Native Americans and Alaska Natives
throughout Indian Country
Tlingit & Haida Efforts to Prevent Missing and Murdered Women in Alaska
While violence against Native American women occurs at higher rates
than in any other ethnic group in the United States, it is even worse
in Alaska. According to the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, 50
percent of Alaska Native women experience physical or sexual violence
in their lifetime. The Violence Policy Center reports that the homicide
rate against Alaska Native women and children is three times the
national average, identifying that in twelve murders, eight will be
American Indian or Alaska Native. Even more troubling, the Violence
Policy Center reports that Alaska is ranked first among states with the
highest homicide rates of women by men and is the most violent state,
with Anchorage as the most violent city within the Union. The Seattle-
based Urban Indian Health Institute reports that Alaska is among the
top ten states with the highest number of missing and murdered Native
Americans and Alaska Natives with 52 active cases.
Tlingit & Haida is all too familiar with the corrosive effect that
this violence against our women and children has had on our
communities. It has been more than a year since the unsolved death of
19-year-old Jade Williams of Kake and nearly a year since the unsolved
death of 37-year-old Francile Turpin of Klawock. The alleged murder of
Judylee Guthrie, 28 of Klawock, Alaska, has yet to be prosecuted nearly
two and a half years later. Earlier this year, Tlingit & Haida held a
memorial in solidarity with our northern relatives after ten year old
Ashley Johnson Barr of Kotzebue was found dead, sexually assaulted and
strangled, after being missing for days. Fortunately, the perpetrator
is being held accountable for this heinous crime.
Because we believe the future of Indian Country rests in the secure
status of women living in environments that are free of violence,
Tlingit & Haida has committed its resources and staff to working
towards bringing an end to these threats to our women and children. At
our 2018 annual Tribal Assembly, Tlingit & Haida passed resolution
TA18-27 calling for the increased investigation of Missing and Murdered
Indigenous Women and asking the Department of Justice to report on
their steps to reduce the disproportionate numbers of victims who are
Native women. \1\
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\1\ ``BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the Tlingit & Haida petition the
US Department of Justice to evaluation and report on progress by
federal and state law enforcement agencies in investigating and
reducing the incidence of missing and murdered indigenous women no
later than December 31, 2019 from the states of Alaska and Washington,
and US Department of Justice.''
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In addition, Tlingit & Haida adopted Resolution TA 18-37
establishing a Violence Against Women Task Force (``Task Force'') to
fight against violence destroying the lives of our women. The work of
the Task Force, in fact, is what brought me in front of you all today.
The Task Force is a community-driven response to end domestic
violence and to address cases of missing Alaska Native women. It is
charged with studying, analyzing, reporting, and providing
recommendations on how to:
Improve criminal justice system to better serve and protect
Alaska Native women;
Increase criminal justice protective and investigative
resources for reporting and identifying murdered and missing
Alaska Native women;
Identify rates of violence against women and reduce
incidences through continuing efforts to connect state, tribal
and federal resources;
Address issues relating to public safety and law enforcement
that create barriers for responding timely to violent crimes
against Indigenous women in rural Alaska communities;
Identify effective tribal justice methods used to reduce
violence against Alaska Native women; and
Create partnerships with local, state and national
organizations for resource development (i.e. Alaska Native
Women's Resource Center, National Indigenous Women's Resource
Center and NCAI's VAW Task Force).
The Task Force is a continuation of Tribe's increasing attention to
violence against women. In 2012, Tlingit & Haida advocated for fully
including Alaska Native Tribes within the purview of the Violence
Against Women Act. \2\ Since then, we have repeatedly met with the U.S.
Department of Justice (DOJ) to advocate for resources that meets the
needs of Alaska Native women and children. We have also supported
National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) resolutions which advocate
for the safety of Alaska Native women residing in tribal and village
communities.
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\2\ Tlingit Haida Resolution TA/12-58, Opposition to Any Language
Excluding Alaska Native Tribes from the Violence Against Women Act
(April 18-21, 2012), http://www.ccthita.org/info/press/releases/
2012releases/Resolution%20TA%2012-58%20Opposition%20to%20Any%20
Language%20Excluding%20AK%20Native%20Tribes%20from%20the%20VAWA.pdf;
Tlingit Haida Press Release, Tribe Strongly Opposes Exclusion from
Violence Against Women Act (April 23, 2012), http://www.ccthita.org/
info/press/releases/2012releasesNR%2004232012%20
/TribeStronglyOpposesExclusionFromVAWA.pdf
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In 2014, when the unduly-limiting Section 910 of the Violence
Against Women Act was repealed, Tlingit & Haida took active steps as a
tribal government to increase protections for Alaska Native women. The
Tlingit & Haida Tribal Court, began issuing civil protection orders for
domestic violence committed by intimate partners and family members.
\3\ Our orders addressed a range of domestic violence offenses,
including threats, assault, and sexual assault. We issue emergency
protection orders, ex parte, for up to 20-day periods upon a showing of
probable cause. Permanent protection orders are issued from one to five
years after a hearing is held.
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\3\ Tlingit Haida, Tribal Update (December 18, 2018), http://
www.ccthita.org/government/president/updates/TribalUpdate_Dec2014.pdf
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The protection orders are served on the Respondent by the Juneau
Police Department or Alaska State Troopers or Village Public Safety
Officers based on the location of the Respondent. Service of process is
more challenging in our remote villages without law enforcement. For
violations of the Tribal Court Protection Order that occur in Juneau,
the City Prosecutor files criminal charges for violation of the
tribally-issued protection order. The Tribe is exploring how to
encourage the state of Alaska to better prosecute violations that occur
outside of Juneau. In an effort to maximize protection and increase
safety for Native Women, the Tribal Court makes every effort to
collaborate with state and local law enforcement and prosecutors in
serving and enforcing protection orders. However, many of our
communities lack any first responders to enforce a protection order,
which leaves those in such villages more vulnerable.
Since the Task Force's establishment, we have participated with the
Alaska Native Women's Resource Center's annual Unity meeting held prior
to the Alaska Federation of Native's Annual meeting, the Office of
Violence Against Women's 2018 Annual Consultation, and most recently
the Office of Victims of Crime (``OVC'') Listening Session in Palm
Springs. We further plan to evaluate whether to establish a DOJ Office
of Violence Against Women-funded Southeast Alaska Native Women's
Coalition. We successfully applied for Phase I of the Victims of Crime
Act (``VOCA'') 2018 Tribal Set-aside program, although our
application's budget was cut , by OVC, who may not understand the
logistical challenges we face in Alaska including the lack of available
housing and actual costs of resources and services in our remote
village communities.
To continue improving services and protection for our women,
Tlingit & Haida's Chief Justice Michelle Demmert also participated in
the Third Meeting of the North American Trilateral Working Group on
Violence Against Indigenous Women and Girls in Mexico City held this
year to explore how to better improve collaboration, information
sharing, and leverage resources to respond to violent crimes against
Alaska Native women. \4\ Indigenous representatives from the United
States, Canada and Mexico discussed common themes including, high rates
of suicide among their youth and the housing crisis that their
communities face and the impact this crisis has on women attempting to
leave the violence. Canadian participants discussed the high rate of
missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, and how their
government is attempting to address these issues including a national
inquiry and apology, as well improved protocols among law enforcement.
We can learn much from our northern neighbors as we look for ways to
improve the protocols for American Indian and Alaska Native women and
girls.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ Tlingit & Haida Chief Justice to Attend Trilateral Work Group
Meeting on Violence Against Indigenous Women and Girls (September 7,
2018), https://myemail.constantcontact.com/FOR-IMMEDIATE-RELEASE--
Chief-Justice-to-
Attend-Trilateral-Meeting-on-Violence-Against-Indigenous-Women-and-
Girls
.html?soid=1124597381696&aid=nmPvEYNC6-A
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This past year, more than 200 tribal, state, regional, and national
organizations, including Tlingit & Haida, joined the National
Indigenous Women's Resource Center in support of the Senate resolution
recognizing a 2nd National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered
Native Women and Girls. \5\ The first national day of awareness in 2017
reached millions of people across the United States and the world
through social media platforms. The social media networking and
mobilization this year surpassed the 2017 efforts. Tlingit & Haida held
a Rally, March and Awareness event in Juneau that had over 200 citizens
in attendance. The response to the public call for increased awareness
is indicative of the extent of the reality that Native women go missing
daily often without any response by law enforcement.
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\5\ See TA18-34.
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Challenges Facing Alaska Native Communities
There are many barriers that make it difficult for Tlingit & Haida
to adequately protect our Alaska Native women residing in what are
often remote communities. These include extreme weather, limited police
and public safety protection, lack of access to necessary resources and
limited counseling and support services. This situation is compounded
by insufficient federal funding opportunities that do not even begin to
meet the needs of Alaska Natives. We suffer from inadequate data
reporting that makes it difficult to tailor programs to the needs of
our women. We face a challenging lack of coordination between state and
tribal officials, and a lack of training and resources in villages
where neighbors are often the first, and only, responders who lack
training beyond their compassionate hearts. In the rest of my
testimony, I will provide greater detail on each of these barriers.
A. Remote Location, Extreme Weather, Lack of Transportation
The geographical remoteness, extreme weather, and the lack of
adequate transportation present serious challenges in responding to
crime in Alaska Native villages and in accessing state judicial systems
in a timely matter. Tlingit & Haida serves 20 villages and communities
spread over 43,000 square miles within Southeast Alaska. Our service
population is among the largest, most isolated, and most geographically
dispersed tribal population in Indian Country. While we are proud to
maintain our lives in our original homeland, our struggle to protect
our women and children is made more challenging by our geophysical
realities. Most of our Southeast Alaska communities are connected only
by ferry boats or small planes. There are very few road connections.
With only three secure women's shelters in Juneau, Ketchikan, and Sitka
in our region, if female victims in other communities seek to leave for
safety purposes, doing so requires very public and often delayed travel
by plane or ferry. Additionally, if a domestic violence incident occurs
in any of the other outlying communities or villages, the victim's
safety is at great risk because our limited police and Village Public
Safety Officers (VPSO) cover huge territories and often are not present
for days and weeks in some communities. Consequently, victims often
have trouble getting help in time to collect evidence and in some
instances, to save their lives.
B. Village Public Safety Officers are the First Responders
Village Public Safety Officers (VPSOs) are crucial resources for
Alaskan villages. Women and children also go missing and are murdered
in these communities too. VPSOs are often the first, and in some cases,
the only official responders to incidents of domestic violence and
sexual assault in remote areas of Alaska. While VPSOs do their best,
they are hampered by more limited training than other law enforcement
officers receive, more limited resources and authority and lower
compensation.
These challenges contribute to turnover in the VPSO program.
Turnover, which can be the result of burnout, from being on call, for
all practical purposes, 24 hours a day, leaves communities with gaps in
their law enforcement coverage, as a new officer is sent to training
for months and there is no current officer. It is also not infrequent
that the VPSO program trains officers, who too quickly depart for
higher paying law enforcement positions, serving for a municipal force
or moving down south.
The VPSO program needs additional resources and authority for
training and responses because the officers, in spite of all the
challenges, do amazing work to keep our families and communities safe.
Our communities have learned that the presence of a VPSO increases
reporting of crime and violence. So while statistics rise when a VPSO
is present, it is only because there is finally someone to report to, a
local person, with whom the community has a relationship and where
there is trust. For those communities with no law enforcement, VPSO or
otherwise, crime is underreported. It is yet another area where
statistical evidence for our Alaskan communities is lacking or
misleading.
C. Funding Barriers
While U.S. DOJ has attempted to direct funding towards domestic
violence and sexual assault, many federal grant programs do not allow
us to spend money on prevention, enforcement, or policing and few
programs are available to help us provide counseling services to
victims of domestic violence and child witnesses. While Tlingit & Haida
is encouraged by the 2018 VOCA Tribal Set -Aside, it is clear from our
reduced application award in the Phase I process, that OVC does not
understand the true costs of crimes in Alaska and the Resources needed.
We need a permanent set aside for VOCA, and grant awards that truly
build capacity and program sustainability.
In 2015 DOJ announced the Tribal Access Program (TAP) for the
National Crime Information Center (NCIC), which provides eligible
tribes with access to the Criminal Justice Information Services
systems. There are now 30 tribes participating in TAP, which will
greatly facilitate their ability to enter protection orders and
criminal history into the federal databases. Because DOJ is using
existing funding for the TAP program, eligibility is currently limited
to tribes with a sex offender registry or with a full-time tribal law
enforcement agency. Tlingit & Haida is one of many tribes, particularly
in Public Law 83-280 jurisdictions like California and Alaska, who
cannot meet this DOJ criteria but who do have tribal courts that issue
protection orders. For our protection orders to be effective and
protect victims, an issuing tribe like Tlingit & Haida needs to be able
to enter them into the protection order file of NCIC. A dedicated
funding stream should be created for expanding the TAP program and
making it available to all interested tribes who meet the requirement.
All tribes should have the ability to access federal databases not only
for obtaining criminal history information for criminal or civil law
purposes, but also for entering protection orders, missing person's
reports, and other relevant information, including National Instant
Criminal Background Check System disqualifying events, into the
databases.
D. Inadequate Data Collection
Perhaps even more challenging is the lack of enough data on
domestic violence, sexual assault, sex trafficking, and violence
against children, which is needed to build sound legal infrastructure
and provide appropriate services to ensure our women and children are
not living in danger. Tlingit & Haida commends this Committee for
persuading the Senate to pass Savanna's Act to address this exact
problem.
Following my appointment, I initiated research, at the local level,
to find out how missing and murdered indigenous women are identified
and their cases tracked. To my surprise, I learned that tracking the
racial background of victims is not done by the Sitka Police, nor by
the State of Alaska. I further learned that there is no communication
between a tribe and law enforcement when a victim is a tribal citizen.
Moreover, despite domestic violence shelters compiling data and sharing
it with the state of Alaska, the state finds it difficult to interpret
and successfully use this data to focus on the unique needs of Native
women and children.
Additionally police have informed us that they are only collecting
data if there is an arrest. But, how can there be an arrest without law
enforcement within 75 of Alaska communities? \6\ This means that many,
if not most, instances of domestic violence, sexual assault, sex
trafficking, and missing women are not being documented or accounted
for. This is shocking. Just because a perpetrator cannot be identified
and arrested does not mean a victim cannot be identified and served.
The rights of victims can no longer be denied just because law
enforcement fails to apprehend perpetrators.
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\6\ See TLOC Report, supra 39.
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When data is not kept, there is no ability to track our women. Our
voices, our stories, the realities that we live, continue to be
marginalized because they remain anecdotal evidence. The failure of
data collection is not only making it difficult to tailor our programs
and services and partner with local and state law enforcement to
protect Alaska Native women, but more importantly, it is preventing our
Tribe from being able to proactively provide Alaska Native women with
resources that could save their lives and the lives of their children.
Law enforcement must track this information. Not only do I believe
adequate data will lead to valuable information, but that information
can then be a basis for advocating for increased resources. I also
believe there is inherent value in validating the reality that Alaska
Native women face.
Recommendations for Protecting Alaska Native Women and Children
In response to our experience with these barriers, Tlingit & Haida
provides the following recommendations to the Committee to consider as
it continues to advance measures to protect our women and children.
1. DOJ funding should be dramatically increased and should be
focused on violence prevention, enforcement, and policing.
2. DOJ VOCA grant funding should be dramatically increased and
made permanent or it will remain ineffective. The SURVIVE Act S. 1870
would address this issue and should include victim compensation and
services as defined by the tribal government.
3. Data reporting models in Alaska should be required to include
data collected from VPSOs and tribal governments without tribal law
enforcement or VPSO's . Funding should be provided to meet this
requirement.
4. VPSO programs should be provided with dramatically increased
funding--
a. Especially for training VPSOs in data collection in cases
involving violence against women and children;
b. For training VPSOs in responding to domestic violence,
sexual assault, sex trafficking, and trauma;
c. To ensure that there is a VPSO officer in every Alaska
Native community, including the most remote of villages.
5. Provide dramatically increased funding resources for broader
community training on domestic violence, sexual assault, sex
trafficking, and trauma and best practices for prevention.
6. Provide increased support for dramatically increased funding
resources for tribal courts and tribal law enforcement in Alaska.
7. Provide increased victim services to the families and community
members of the disappeared or murdered Native women, such as counseling
for the children of the disappeared, burial assistance, and community
walks, healing and other tribal-specific ceremonies. Passage of the
SURVIVE Act S. 1870 would address this issue
8. Fully implement the VAWA 2005 program of research and
specifically provide Indian tribes information regarding the
disappearance and murder of Native women. We need a baseline study for
Alaska as our situation may be different than what the National
Institute of Justice reported in their Violence Against American
Indians and Alaska Native Women and Men.
9. Upon enactment of Savanna's Act, provide targeted funding for
tribal governments like Tlingit & Haida, perhaps on a pilot program
basis, to ensure full participation in and coordination of efforts
across federal departments to conduct research and collect data to
better improve tribal government responses to the disappearance or
murder of Native women and girls.
I, along with all of us at Tlingit & Haida, look forward to working
further with Senator Murkowski and the rest of this Committee on ways
we can heal this life and death filled trauma for many women and
children in our Native communities. Together, we must ensure the safety
of our tribal citizens. Thank you for this opportunity to join the
Committee in sounding a call to arms.
Gunalcheesh! Haw'aa! Thank You!
The Chairman. Thank you, Ms. Alexander. Ms. Loring-Heavy
Runner.
STATEMENT OF KIMBERLY LORING HEAVY RUNNER, MISSOULA, MT
Ms. Loring-Heavy Runner. Thank you for allowing me to speak
for my sister, Ashley.
So Ashley went missing on June 12th, 2017. That is exactly
18 months ago. That is exactly 18 months ago since the last
time that I got to see my sister, spoke with her, to be around
her.
During that time, when she went missing, the first tip that
we got for Ashley was stating that Ashley was running on
Highway 89 on the Blackfeet Reservation, alongside the Rocky
Mountain front, from this, she was running from this vehicle.
And since that tip that we got, we met with BIA and the tribal
police. And they searched for three days, they searched for
three days to look for Ashley. And after those three days, they
stopped.
They had this task force that they formed when Ashley first
went missing, and they had one time where they spoke with each
other. Then after that first meeting, they had never come back
to speak of what they found about Ashley.
And during that time when Ashley was missing, it was two
months after she went missing, the BIA was still stating that
Ashley is of age, and is able to leave whenever she wants to.
That is not a proper response when dealing with a woman that
has been missing for two months, and despite the fact that we
found a sweater, with an eyewitness saying that that was the
sweater that Ashley was wearing during the time that she went
missing.
And one of the leads that we received during that time was
that my sister was hurt in the mountains on the Flathead
Reservation, in this place in the mountains, at a place in the
mountains. That is just ridiculous. This place in the
mountains.
And though there are leads saying that she was wearing the
sweater, and she was placed in a barrel, in an oil barrel. And
where we found this sweater, there was nothing but oil barrels
everywhere, and the sweater was stained with oil and stained
with red marks that did look like blood.
When we switched over the sweater, over to, at the time we
were working with the BIA, it was after two weeks that we
called to speak with them about this sweater, they lost it.
They called us and told us that, we do not know where this
sweater is at. We also found boots that was the same size as
Ashley's, and the same style. When we turned over the boots,
somehow these boots turned from, or these boots went from
Ashley's size to a little child's size, which I do not
understand how that happened.
Working with the law enforcement at the Blackfeet
Reservation and BIA, we went weeks without even speaking with
them. They did not call and they did not give us any
information. One time I spoke with this officer, he was a
family friend, but he was an officer. He stopped me and talked
to me, and said, these guys are not taking Ashley's case
seriously. They are putting her as she is of age and she can
leave when she wants to. That is not a proper response when you
deal with missing and murdered indigenous girls, that are
missing.
One more thing, in working with these law enforcement
officers, there was this officer that was the head of Ashley's
case. He was leaking information to one of the prime suspects.
And he was having a relation with the suspect. This was not
based on rumors or stories; this was fact. Because I was there
when this person was speaking with the officer on the
telephone. It was the officer. And I later spoke with this
officer, and he did say yes, that was me, and I was speaking
with her.
I believe that if the law enforcement would have searched
for my sister when she first went missing, if they would have
taken her case seriously, we would have my sister. And we
wouldn't have to search for 18 months through the rain and
three feet of snow, being chased by grizzly bears, wondering,
is my sister in the mountains? Knowing that there are grizzly
bears all over the Rocky Mountains, is my sister up there?
If they would have taken her seriously as a person, because
we are important, I believe that my sister would have been
here, or we would have closure. That is why I am here today, is
to stress to you that I believe that the law enforcement did
not take Ashley's case seriously, as well as other girls that
have gone missing and murdered in Indian Country.
I think that is all I have to say for now, thank you. I
went way over.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Loring-Heavy Runner
follows:]
Prepared Statement of Kimberly Loring-Heavy Runner, Missoula, MT
My name is Kimberly Loring-Heavy Runner, and I am here today to
share my sister Ashley Loring-Heavy Runner's story, and to shed light
on the mistreatment of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women cases
handled by multiple levels of Law Enforcement in Montana, and across
the United States.
Ashley's Story
Ashley Loring-Heavy Runner is a 22 year old Blackfeet woman that
went missing June 12, 2017 on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana, at
the age of 20, over one and half years ago. Ashley's life is valued and
cannot be explained in the five minutes that I am being allowed. Please
forgive me if I go slightly over the requested timeframe.
Failure of Law Enforcement
The first information in regards to Ashley's disappearance was
received on June 25, 2017 stating that Ashley was running from a males'
vehicle on US Highway 89, alongside the Rocky Mountain Front on the
Blackfeet reservation.
In the beginning stages of the investigation, a sweater was found
on the Blackfeet Reservation on June 28, 2017 and placed into evidence
with Blackfeet Tribal Law Enforcement (BLES). The sweater was
identified by an eye-witness stating that Ashley was wearing the exact
same sweater when she went missing. When the sweater, which was stained
with `red spots' and holes was turned over by Blackfeet Law Enforcement
(BLES) to the BIA, the agent stated multiple times that he sent the
sweater to the crime lab, when we questioned the results of the testing
of the sweater he then changed the story and said he couldn't send out
due to testing reasons after eight (8) months of being in evidence with
the BIA. We later found out the sweater has never been sent, and is
still currently sitting in BIA evidence. The Blackfeet Law Enforcement
(BLES) informed us they did a search on the location where the sweater
was found on July 28, 2017. We searched that location for two weeks
after the sweater was found and never seen either agency BLES or BIA
during our searches. We later spoke with a BLES officer that was
working on Ashley's case and she had no recollection of a search ever
being conducted in that location. We were then told Blackfeet Law
Enforcement (BLES) was no longer taking any tips concerning Ashley's
case and we instructed to contact the BIA agent assigned to our area in
Montana. Several attempts have been made by the family with no response
from the BIA agent to date. During the course of the investigation with
the Blackfeet Law Enforcement (BLES) we became aware that a Blackfeet
law enforcement officer working on Ashley's case was having relations
with, and giving information to a prime suspect.
For over the course of nine (9) months that the BIA has taken over
the case most leads and information given to BIA have not been followed
up on, nor documented. Blackfeet Tribal Law Enforcement (BLES) as well
as the Bureau of Indian Affairs have not take Ashley's case seriously.
After two months of being reported missing the BIA Agent responded
to our calls by stating ``Ashley is of age and can leave whenever she
wants to.'' Despite the fact all the leads coming in were stating that
Ashley was in danger, or was hurt and placed in the mountains. From the
very beginning, both Blackfeet Tribal Law Enforcement (BLES) and the
BIA have ignored the dire situation that Ashley is in and have allowed
this investigation to be handled in a dysfunctional manner. This isn't
just a reality for our family but a reality for many MMIW families. We
all share the same experience when working with law enforcement.
In closing, think of how each of you would feel if the response you
are given about your wife, sister, daughters missing persons case was.
. . .
``she is of age and can leave when she wants to.''
Ashley is loved and cherished, I will continue to search for my
sister.
I am asking you to recognize that Indigenous women matter, and the
way our missing and murdered women cases are handled needs to be
corrected.
We are going missing, we are being murdered. We are not being taken
seriously. I am here to stress to you we are important and we are loved
and we are missed. We will no longer be the invisible people in the
United States of America, we have worth.
The Chairman. Thank you, Ms. Loring-Heavy Runner.
We will begin five-minute rounds of questions. I would like
to begin with Ms. Crotty.
According to your written testimony, the Navajo Nation does
not have an office of the medical investigator. The closest
State facility that delivers medical examinations is four hours
away from the tribe's land.
First, how would having your own office of the medical
investigator help the tribe resolve missing person cases? And
second, can you talk about the Navajo Nation's process for
keeping track of and locating missing and unidentified tribal
members, both on and off the reservation?
Ms. Crotty. Thank you, Chairman. I appreciate the question.
I think you hit a critical area for Navajo in terms of medical
examiners. As I talked about Ariel, when we found her remains,
they were sent to the medical examiner who was located in
Albuquerque, which was nearly three and a half, four hours
away.
Currently on Navajo Nation, because we do not have a
medical examiner's office located on our nation, our criminal
investigators, our Navajo Nation criminal investigators, not
only have to play the role of medical examiner for naturally-
occurring cases, but they also then have to spend their time
away from investigating some of these major crimes. We are
talking about missing persons, homicides and other violent
crimes that are committed against our women, our children and
community members. This plays a huge part in terms of burnout
for the investigators on the ground, and also in terms of how
we prioritize what investigations will take priority and what
are the next steps when having to travel back and forth between
cities like Albuquerque from some of our more rural areas on
Navajo Nation.
It also then plays a role in how, and the ability of our
Navajo criminal investigators to work with victims themselves
and family members who are searching for those family members.
As a family member of an individual who has been missing and
ultimately murdered, it is, and I want to say that I felt your
testimony, Kimberly, when they talked in terms of who they
prioritized and making it seem that your sister left on her own
accord, and dismissing the violence that potentially happened
to her.
That is my concern, Chairman, is when we have a system that
is on the brink of implosion, then what happens to the cases
and how we prioritize them?
To our Federal partners, that is why these stories are so
critical. On the ground, as chairwoman, we talk to all of our
three States, Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico, different FBI
offices. And they are segregated, and they have their own way
of doing things, and sometimes their own ways of collecting
data.
But what happens is, I am not sure if the story them comes
to our Federal partners here who are making the decisions. That
is my concern, and that is the reason for my comment. Because
FBI on the ground are trying to do the best that they can, but
only having six victim advocates? Imagine how that feels in
terms of family and those who need additional support services.
I then want to say in terms of how Navajo Nation tracks and
locates, I can't tell this Committee right now how many missing
Navajo relatives are out there. Why can't I tell you that?
Because of the different jurisdictions and how they are
reported.
So on Navajo Nation, what we looked at and how we track is
very different from what we will see from our Federal partners.
So we are trying to come together to gauge what exactly is the
number out there, why is the data different, why are we not
having active communication. That is why I am looking to this
oversight, is to assist us, help us to keep people accountable,
keep the different Federal players accountable.
What would help us also in terms of tracking or locating is
if we could look at, that was suggested from Representative-
Elect Debra Haaland, some type of hot line, where tips can be
sent in. Because I do want to tell you, there is a trust issue
in Navajo Nation when it comes to law enforcement. So we are
trying to regain the trust of not only the community members
and the relatives to come forward and be part of the solution,
but when they become part of the solution, how we can support
them. So I appreciate the Committee looking into this.
Other areas that we are looking at is how can we look at
the tribal access program, which is a Federal data base. And
looing at if they can start the data base on missing and
murdered victims on Navajo Nation and in Indian Country. Thank
you, Chairman.
The Chairman. Thank you. Vice Chairman Udall?
Senator Udall. Thank you, Chairman.
It is clear that States have a role in ensuring Native
Americans are not overlooked in the criminal justice system.
For example, New Mexico was the first State to enact a robust
tribal identification law for juvenile justice cases. More
recently, the State of Washington enacted legislation to
connect State, tribal and Federal resources to address the
ongoing MMIW crisis.
Delegate Crotty, what difference, if any, has the Navajo
Nation seen in the willingness of State agencies in New Mexico,
Arizona and Utah to work with the tribe on MMIW cases?
Ms. Crotty. Thank you, Senator Udall. I appreciate the
question. I think in terms of what we have seen on the ground
in working with collaboration, we have now seen State agencies
come to the table and be willing to work with us and understand
what type of data that we can work together on.
In terms of the juvenile cases, I will have to defer back
to our chief of police and get that exact information to your
office. I appreciate that question, because it is critical that
we know all of the different nuances and how we can continue to
work with our State agency. So I appreciate the question,
Chairman.
Senator Udall. Thank you very much. We look forward to
getting that information, working with you on it.
Ms. Loring-Heavy Runner and Ms. Alexander, can either of
you speak to how the States of Montana and Alaska are with
coordinating with your tribes on MMIW?
Ms. Alexander. Thank you, Senator Udall. There is no
coordination that I am aware of. I would like to get back to
you about the VPSO program and what their experience has been
as far as coordination.
But we are here because there is none, almost as if the
State is absolved of all responsibility because they don't have
the resources. Thank you.
Senator Udall. Thank you.
Ms. Loring-Heavy Runner. Thank you, Mr. Udall.
So just like she just said, we are here for a new protocol,
because, what do we do, what is law enforcement supposed to do
when missing and murdered girls go missing, and women. Because
it seems like they don't know, either. Because they don't, they
are not communicating with us.
I believe that we need a new protocol, when it comes to
missing and murdered indigenous women. I think that is about
it.
Senator Udall. Thank you very much, to all of you, for
those answers.
One of the privacy protection features of NamUs is the
cases are only published in the data base after rigorous
vetting with appropriate local, State and Federal or tribal law
enforcement agencies. I understand the importance of this
safeguard, but I also know that many Native communities face a
troubling shortage of law enforcement presence and law
enforcement officers.
So Ms. Loring-Heavy Runner, do you know if your sister's
case is listed in NamUs or any other Federal data bases that
track missing people?
Ms. Loring-Heavy Runner. When Ashley first went missing, we
were told that it took two to three months for her name to even
appear on any of those. So it took a really long time for
Ashley's name.
Senator Udall. But you believe it is in the data bases?
Ms. Loring-Heavy Runner. I believe it is in a few of them,
it is not in all of them. Yes.
Senator Udall. Thank you.
Ms. Loring-Heavy Runner. Excuse me, it is in the ones that
don't matter. So I believe that we need to get her into the
data bases that do matter in that respect.
Senator Udall. Okay. If we can help with that, I hope you
will let us know.
Delegate Crotty and Ms. Alexander, do you know if your
tribes have access to the NamUs system, and are you aware of
any difficulties they are having with it?
Ms. Alexander. I am sorry, I do not have the answer to that
question.
Senator Udall. Okay, thank you.
Ms. Crotty. Thank you, Senator Udall, for the question.
Currently, Navajo Nation does have access to the NamUs data
base. What we have found was there is just not enough training,
so that individuals, certain individuals have access. Because
of the magnitude of the Navajo Nation in terms of geographic
locations, we want training and education so individuals
understand how to put that information into the data base.
What we have found on Navajo was we had volunteers and
community members then becoming experts. That is how myself, as
a policy maker on Navajo Nation, found out about NamUs. So
there was a gap in terms of information about what is available
out there and some of the Federal programs.
So again, it is connecting back to Indian Country,
connecting back to the tribal communities, so they understand
what is available and what they could have access to.
Senator Udall. Yes. The NIJ here, the previous witness and
they have also announced, the agency itself says they have nine
regional program specialists available to work with NamUs users
and assist with reporting missing person cases. Do any of you
know if your tribes have received assistance from these
specialists?
Ms. Crotty. Thank you, Senator, for the question. Right
now, Navajo, I don't have any type of evidence that we have
participated or been part of some of the discussions with the
regional specialist to assist. But we are more than willing to
engage in that opportunity.
I know that they have provided some, they had talked about
earlier some of the data sets that they were going to include.
I think what is important, if those are data sets that they
want to include, to also engage with communities how best we
can use that information for policy solutions. I think that is
something that I would continue to ask that we have
opportunities to enter into some of those tribal consultations
with them. Thank you, Senator.
Senator Udall. The important thing about this hearing, now,
I think is now that every tribal entity should know that these
resources exist, that you can use them. And if you have
problems, I think this Committee would like to know because
they are saying they are there, they are willing to train, they
are willing to work out. I don't know if there are additional
responses from Ms. Alexander or Ms. Loring-Heavy Runner on the
question I asked her.
Ms. Alexander. I attended a conference in Palm Springs last
week. And the Department of Justice, OVC, presented a fresh
report that they had on these topics. And there was a complete
absence of data for the 229 tribes in Alaska. No map of Alaska,
not a single data set on Alaska. I said, why is that? It is too
hard.
Ms. Loring-Heavy Runner. Thank you, Mr. Udall. If you could
please repeat that, that would be very nice of you.
Senator Udall. The question was, on these regional people
that are supposed to reach out and train on the data bases and
train on the services, do you know of your tribe having any
contact with them?
Ms. Loring-Heavy Runner. No, sir. I'm not too sure about
that.
Senator Udall. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr.
Chairman.
The Chairman. Senator Murkowski.
Senator Murkowski. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank
all of you for being here today, for your testimony, for your
very personal testimony, Kimberly, and all that you are doing
on behalf of so many. Pat, I thank you for the work that you
are doing on the Tlingit-Haida Central Council and your
leadership on the VAWA Task Force.
One of the things that we learned when that Seattle Urban
Institute report came out was that this was not a study that
had been conducted by the BIA or by the Department of Justice.
It was two women who felt compelled to dig into some of these
stories, and to try to understand the scope and the extent of
murdered and missing indigenous women.
I found it very interesting, in talking with both of them
afterwards, that the ability to collect this information and
this data depended on where you went. You mentioned, Pat, that
in the municipality of Anchorage, the Anchorage police
department was a willing participant in getting this
information. They felt it was important to collect that
information, and when to share that, so that we can better
understand.
You have said here today that when you started to collect
the data, the Sitka police, the State of Alaska don't track the
racial background of the victims, and there is no communication
between the tribe and law enforcement when it involves a tribal
citizen. So one of the things that I think is going to be
important for us in determining what it is that we do next is,
again, understanding exactly the extent of the problem that we
are talking about.
So as you have looked into this, are you aware, Pat,
whether or not there are barriers to either the City of Sitka,
or State of Alaska, to provide for, to collect, first, and then
provide for this information? Have you asked at the local level
how they can be more helpful? Because this is something that I
think, whether it is the State of Alaska or whether it is
Montana or North Dakota, I think our States need to help
prioritize this. Tell me what you have learned.
Ms. Alexander. Thank you, Senator, for the question.
In speaking with the local law enforcement, I learned that
there are a number of police officers that they have, and the
number that they need, there is a mismatch. They are not quite
down 50 percent. But it is, they are not able to recruit the
officers that they could before. Municipalities are competing
for officers once they are trained. So you could send someone
and train them, and then they are going to be somewhere and
earn some good money, but they might not come back to you.
When the force is down that far, in terms of people that
can respond to emergency situations, then they are having to
prioritize even what they do right now on a daily basis. I
believe it is that way in Anchorage as well. I believe Juneau
probably has similar problems.
Senator Murkowski. Yes, it is a resourcing issue, but it is
also, as I understand, within the Anchorage police department,
there was one individual that really took this matter very,
very seriously and kind of spearheaded that. So in many ways,
it is leadership, it is prioritization. So how we can work
together to communicate that understanding the scope and extent
of this, and identifying it and naming it needs to be a
priority.
Ms. Alexander. May I be very frank?
Senator Murkowski. Please.
Ms. Alexander. The mentality that comes out of the
trooper's academy is, the bent is toward protection of fish and
wildlife. It is not about protection of human beings. Their
training manuals are 40 years old. They update every two years.
But don't you think in a decade there has been enough change to
rewrite the whole thing, and maybe change the attitude at the
top so they care more about people?
Senator Murkowski. I hear your message. I hear your
message. In fact, I was sharing with someone this morning, I
saw a newspaper article that an individual who had been
convicted of poaching a moose received a $100,000 fine and a
jail sentence. We don't want to be violating our fish and game
laws, but you are absolutely right. When you can get a higher
fine, a higher penalty for poaching a moose than you can for
violating a woman, that is a problem. We have a lot of work to
do.
Thank you, Patricia.
Ms. Alexander. May I say one more thing? I think tone at
the top is important. People lead by example. If the tone is
wrong, it needs to be fixed however it can be fixed. It might
not, everyone may not survive the transition, but that is how
life is sometimes. Sometimes you must break a few eggs to make
an omelet. Thank you.
Senator Murkowski. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The Chairman. [Presiding.] Senator Heitkamp.
Senator Heitkamp. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to
personally thank each one of you, Ms. Crotty, Ms. Alexander, it
is an honor to meet you. And Ms. Loring-Heavy Runner, thank you
so much for coming here and speaking truth, and speaking for so
many victims whose families can't be in this room.
I know that Senator Tester, before the last panel left,
invited the FBI to stay and listen. Unfortunate. And it makes
us all question the real commitment to this issue, and that is
tragic.
I want to point out one particular thing about Savanna's
Act, if we can get it finished here, at the end of this
Congress. It will require that the Department of Justice
consult on all the data bases with tribal entities and do
consultation. So hopefully some of the gaps and some of the
concerns that you have about the Federal data bases will be
addressed as a result of that legislation.
But again, the intent of that legislation is to begin the
dialogue. We know that you can write a lot of laws, but if
people aren't taking them seriously or resourcing these laws
directly, in adequate measure, that law doesn't really matter.
We have had the Tribal Law and Order Act, which was a subject
of conversation when I first got on this Committee six years
ago. I don't think we have ever realized the promise of the
Tribal Law and Order Act. That is why we are here again today.
So I think there is a real opportunity to amplify and to
extend the message. But I couldn't agree with you more, Ms.
Alexander, that this really is about leadership and leading by
example. Not that I am picking on your State, but as you were
talking, at least as you were talking about the situation with
the game and fish violation, I remember a recent Alaska story
where a young woman was abducted. It was a stranger abduction.
And the judge didn't give the abductor, who committed heinous
crime, any jail time.
So these are the things that frustrate people. These are
the things that make us all wonder where we are.
I think one of the questions that I have for you, Ms.
Loring-Heavy Runner, is you heard the discussion that the
Department of Justice had here and the discussion that the FBI
had about, what is the protocol, and what is the structure. In
your sister's case, do you think any of that was actually done?
Do you think that dialogue reflected at all what happened in
your sister's case?
Ms. Loring-Heavy Runner. Yes, exactly. I don't think any of
the stuff that they spoke in here today, they did not do that
with Ashley's case. They did not take her seriously. They just
waited way too long. I believe that is what ruined Ashley's
case.
Senator Heitkamp. So when they say that the FBI was
engaged, when the one requested to come and work on the
investigation, at what point did the FBI get involved in your
sister's case?
Ms. Loring-Heavy Runner. They got involved eight to nine
months after she went missing. So that would be in March of
this year.
Senator Heitkamp. Can you tell me whether at any point
there was a request, either from BIA or from tribal police, to
the FBI to ask them to get involved that went unresponded to?
Ms. Loring-Heavy Runner. We were told by the BIA agent that
was the head of Ashley's case, he said that if Ashley's case
was switched over to the FBI, Ashley would never be found. And
that is the only response that we received from the BIA when we
were asking if the FBI was going to get involved.
Senator Heitkamp. That doesn't sound like a great deal of
collaboration and communication and cooperation, does it?
Ms. Loring-Heavy Runner. No. They failed Ashley.
Senator Heitkamp. And I have a similar case in my State.
Fortunately, the family has had closure, and Olivia's been
found, unfortunately not alive. But I can only imagine the
terror and the heartbreak of your family. I want to extend my
personal condolences for what you have been through.
Ms. Crotty, I don't know the Navajo as well as I know many
of the other Plains Tribes here. But I understand the
remoteness problem. It is probably not as great as what we see
in Alaska. But can you describe to me the challenges that you
have in getting a response from the FBI or from BIA, given the
remoteness of the Navajo Nation?
Ms. Crotty. Thank you, Senator, for the question. I think
in terms of the response time, our law enforcement, what we are
looking and thinking about is, we have first three different
State jurisdictions. It is interesting, because we are talking
about a Federal program to provide protection services. And
each of the States have different nuances in how they approach
some of their investigations.
For example, like the State of Utah, the FBI that are out
of the State of Utah. They have a different system in how they
investigate crimes. And they then before, in some cases make an
immediate arrest, have to go back to a judge. So the individual
investigating the crime will investigate a crime in the Utah
area, then have to travel one to two hours to go to St. George
to talk to a judge to get an arrest warrant.
So we find this with not only sexual assault cases, but how
does that play a part? Because what we're talking about is the
commitment or the amount of hours that each agent is on the
ground working some of these cases. So when they have the
remoteness and geographic factors, it just compounds the issue.
When I want to really stress is also the need for advocates
to be part of the system. We have five FBI agents on all of
Navajo Nation, six advocates to a system. But that is not
nearly enough individuals there to help the families and to
help the victims and the survivors to process this very
complicated system that is not designed as a victim-centered
solution. It is a criminal justice system that at sometimes
just does not provide justice for the missing and the murdered
in Indian County.
That is what we keep seeing time and time again. And the
community members are so frustrated, and they say, we tell the
story, we tell them, this person told us this information. Find
out about it. There is really no accountability for the family
to know, was that investigated, was every rock unturned.
So it is a complicated balancing act, because I mentioned,
criminal investigators also act as medical examiners. So they
are playing these dual roles. I see that in Indian Country in
particular with our FBI agents. They have to play many roles.
What we need them to focus in on is get that evidence as soon
as possible, take this seriously.
What I wanted to hear from your first panel is, what is the
commitment they are going to make to Indian Country to get
people on the ground, to make sure that we are not just looking
at it from a logistic point of view, one agent will serve
different communities. What is the ultimate goal, if our major
partners in the Major Crimes Act, if they are the only ones who
can fully investigate and prosecute, then the buck stops here.
That is why we are asking our lawmakers, hear our story and
our challenges, and then help us with this issue. Because we do
not have jurisdiction to deal with this matter. We do not have
the funding to do it. We are bound by Federal law that has
taken this authority away from us.
So if we are not ready to give that back to us and to hand
on, then we are here at your mercy asking for your help. And
why, as Senator Tester said, what is the issue? Why is this not
happening? That is exactly what we are saying. Our life, we are
human here, we breathe, we care, our tears are real, our
families are suffering. And now, if I do say that we lost
another Navajo woman in the State of Kentucky, because she was
a traveling worker. We have now three Navajo children that do
not have a mother.
So we know mental health plays a part into it. We know that
all of these jurisdictions play a part into it. But it should
not be open season on Native women and children and community
members. We should have a system in place that will fully
investigate, fully prosecute and then put them away so that our
communities are safe, and that we change the statistics of what
is happening. We can only do that with your help. So I
appreciate the Committee for helping us.
The Chairman. Senator Daines.
Senator Daines. Ms. Crotty, it is tough to build on that.
Thank you for sharing those thoughts.
I think it raises a fundamental question as a Nation about
what value we place on human life and what value we place on
Native American indigenous women across this Country. It is
pretty clear to me that they are being devalued. When you see
murder rates, the murder rates of Native American women, it is
ten times the national average. Anywhere else, that would be
getting a whole lot of attention, a lot of focus and a lot of
law enforcement looking at it. There would be public outcry.
I am struck, Ms. Loring-Heavy Runner, the fact that it was
two months from the time that Ashley went missing until some
kind of investigation began, correct?
Ms. Loring-Heavy Runner. Yes, Senator Daines, that is
correct.
Senator Daines. And then there was nine months of virtually
no information, updates to the victim in this case, to the
family. Is that correct? From law enforcement.
Ms. Loring-Heavy Runner. From law enforcement, well, we
went, I think the longest that we went without speaking with
law enforcement was about three months, yes.
Senator Daines. And how many searches have you conducted?
Ms. Loring-Heavy Runner. Over 120 searches.
Senator Daines. A hundred and twenty searches. I would
imagine, for a moment, you said you have encountered grizzly
bears?
Ms. Loring-Heavy Runner. Yes, we have run into two in one
day at the same time.
Senator Daines. So, Senator Murkowski alluded to this, in
Alaska, Ms. Alexander, about the fact that a moose is getting
better protections in Alaska than a Native American woman or an
indigenous woman. Similarly, I just wonder, if you would have
had to kill a grizzly bear in self-defense, would there have
been a more rigorous investigation of that incident than
investigating Ashley's appearance?
Ms. Loring-Heavy Runner. Well, for example, back in
Montana, in Browning, there was a poached deer. They found
fingerprints all over some stuff around the deer, and that
exact same day they sent it all to the crime lab. Which we are
still waiting for the sweater and the boots to be sent to the
crime lab. I believe that the deer is sad, it was treated more
seriously than us humans were, yes.
Senator Daines. A poached deer got a more thorough
investigation than your sister?
Ms. Loring-Heavy Runner. Yes, either a deer or an elk, yes.
Senator Daines. I think this just comes back to the
importance of why these issues need to be elevated to this
Committee, to this Nation's capitol. This is a fundamental
question of how we value some of human life and those who are
the most vulnerable. You can be a voice for those who don't
have a voice here today. I hope that message is received
strongly by law enforcement, by members of Congress, so that we
can conduct investigations and find out what happened to
Ashley. And if the victims' families could be updated around
what's happening.
If there is one or two things you want us to take away,
Kimberly, what would be the one or two things you would ask of
us that we can do?
Ms. Loring-Heavy Runner. I would ask for you to please look
into the law enforcement, look into the BIA and all the other
law enforcements that do deal with missing and murdered
indigenous women. Because they are doing something wrong. This
isn't just from Ashley's case. We spoke with a lot of other
families, and they had the exact same stories as what we went
through.
And this is not just from this year or the year when Ashley
went missing. In 1980, this little girl went missing in
Browning, she was about eight years old. They told the parents,
it was the middle of winter, they told her that Monica just
went out to hang with friends, in the middle of the night of a
big storm. They told her that.
So even back then, they were not doing their job. There is
something seriously wrong here, because our girls, our people
and our men, are important. That is why I am here today to
stress to you that we shouldn't have to be here and plead to
make us important, because we are important. We are people. We
are important. That is all I have to say.
Just look into it and let them change. Hopefully in the
future, that we wouldn't have to worry about any more missing
and murdered indigenous women. That is what I think. I could go
on and on. I could be here all night. Thank you, Senator
Daines.
Senator Daines. Thank you.
The Chairman. Senator Tester.
Senator Tester. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank
you and Vice Chair Udall for holding this hearing. It has been
going on for about two hours and 40 minutes, maybe the longest
hearing we have had this year in Indian Affairs. I think it was
a hearing that we were past due to have, and I am very, very
happy that under your leadership, Chairman Hoeven, and Vice
Chair Udall, that we had this.
I want to thank the folks on this panel for testifying. I
know it is not easy, it cannot be easy.
And to Senator Heitkamp, and the people you represent, the
communities you represent, I very much appreciate it.
I also want to recognize Charles Addington from the Bureau
of Indian Affairs, because he did stick around. Oftentimes we
have hearings, and I get the impression, over the last 12 years
that I have been here, that sometimes folks from the
Administration come to check the box and walk out the door.
Mr. Addington, your sitting here and listening to this, I
know you had other things you could be doing. But I think it
represents the fact that you are going to take this issue
seriously, and I appreciate that. I think the proof will be in
the pudding when we get done with all of this. If we can figure
out a way for tribal law enforcement and BIA and FBI, and
whoever else is in the equation, to be able to work better
together, there are a lot of things that have been said today,
as I have listened to the testimony of the second panel in
particular, our votes have stopped, so I could listen to them
all. They were very disturbing.
One of the ladies said there is a trust issue. It might
have been you, Amber. And if there is a lack of trust, we have
major problems right off the top and we need to figure out how
to solve that problem in and of itself. The truth is that are
our first responders, whether they are in Indian Country or
anywhere else. They are an incredible asset to us, and we ought
to be trusting of them to do the job that they were hired to
do.
I would also say that there are some issues around evidence
that are very, very disturbing. But I do want to start with
you, Kimberly, and just kind of go down the line. You said that
you sister was missing on June 12th of 2017. Were the tribal
police the first ones who started the investigation, or was it
somebody else? Was it a search and rescue team, or who was it?
Who started?
Ms. Loring-Heavy Runner. The first people who we spoke with
were the tribal police, and the BIA at the same time.
Senator Tester. At the same time. And that was on June
12th, when your sister turned up missing?
Ms. Loring-Heavy Runner. No, the problem with that is that
the first lead that they got was on June 25th, and that is when
they started the three-day search.
Senator Tester. Okay, so did you know she was missing
before the 25th of June and did you report it?
Ms. Loring-Heavy Runner. So we were told that Ashley was
hanging out with a family friend. And this family friend, he
was in a very rural place. So it was fine for that. And then
when we actually got to see this family friend, he stated that
he hasn't seen Ashley for two weeks.
Senator Tester. Okay, I got you. So then you knew there was
big-time trouble at that moment in time.
Ms. Loring-Heavy Runner. Yes.
Senator Tester. And the FBI came in like, if my math is
right, nearly ten months later. And that FBI was brought in at
the request of who? At the request of you or the BIA, or the
tribal police, or do you know?
Ms. Loring-Heavy Runner. We were told that they were
brought in by the request of the BIA.
Senator Tester. Okay. And you were told that if the FBI was
brought in, that Ashley would never be found, is that correct?
Ms. Loring-Heavy Runner. Exactly. That was from the head of
the BIA agent that was on her case, he is the main guy. He
quoted that if the FBI was to get on Ashley's case, Ashley will
never be found. Because he worked his hardest, and the FBI will
not look for Ashley.
Senator Tester. Okay. And as far as the evidence with the
sweater and the boots, is that still in tribal police hands, or
BIA hands, or whose hands?
Ms. Loring-Heavy Runner. I did call them last week and I am
still waiting for a call back to see where the sweater is at.
Senator Tester. We have work to do. There is no doubt about
that. We have to figure this out. I am not sure we got any
answers today, I mean, you guys gave us answers. You gave us
answers, your experience. But I'm not sure we have answers on
what needs to happen, other than better communication up and
down the line. That is pretty obvious.
Mr. Chairman, I don't think this should be our last hearing
on this. I will just tell you that. I think we should, once
again, bring in the respective law agencies and maybe even
bring in some of the tribal folks on the ground that are in law
enforcement this next Congress, and try to figure out what is
going on here.
Because I will go back to where I started, and that is,
would we have a different reaction if this was non-Native? I am
just telling you, it would be a different reaction. These
folks, it was pointed out, they love and they live and they
cry. We are not living up to any of our responsibilities here,
trust or otherwise. Every missing person is important.
The communities they impact and the families they impact,
it can literally rip the heart out of you. Hopefully we can
work together. I believe you two are going to be chairman and
ranking member again, is that correct? Congratulations.
Hopefully you guys can work together this next Congress to
follow up on this, so that we can get some answers as to what
the problem is.
I would just finish by this. Mr. Addington, you are here,
you are going to be writing up a budget pretty soon. If it is a
budgetary problem, we really do need to know the facts. And if
we need, and many of us here are appropriators, in fact, I
think all three of us are appropriators, and there are some
others on this Committee that are appropriators, if it is a
situation that we need more tribal law enforcement, or we need
more BIA law enforcement, I can tell you, I believe we need
more FBI law enforcement, and the FBI isn't here. We have
problems all over the Country with not enough manpower in the
FBI.
Thank you very much for being here. I want to thank the
witnesses on both panels. I want to thank the chairman and
ranking member one more time, and tell you that I don't think
we give up on this today. I think we continue to work. You guys
keep your voices heard. And I will keep my ears open.
Thank you. God bless you all.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Tester. To pick up on a
couple of those themes, clearly, we have to find ways to
strengthen and improve the coordination and all the work that
is being done by BIA, DOJ and FBI. That came out in the first
panel, certainly came out in this panel, is we have to get them
together working with you, better data, and make sure that it
is more effective.
To that, also in terms of following up on a comment Senator
Tester made, for example, an act that I have put forward and
the vice chairman has co-sponsored, I think we have good
bipartisan support from the entire Committee. I am hopeful if
we can't get it this year, we will get it next, and that is the
SURVIVE Act. The SURVIVE Act stands for Securing Urgent
Resources Vital to Indian Victim Empowerment, the SURVIVE Act.
What it would do is there is a national crime victims fund.
It is $3 billion a year. This was set aside 5 percent, or $150
million a year, to help with this very issue that we are
talking about, to help with law enforcement and to help with
missing and murdered indigenous women and children. And that
would make a real difference. That is a multi-year bill, so we
know that that $150 million would be there year after year.
As Senator Tester pointed out, all three of us are on
Appropriations. This year we were able to secure $132 million,
and that is for fiscal year 2018. For fiscal year 2019, we are
working on $220 million to help with this issue.
But the nice thing, if we could get our SURVIVE Act passed,
that is a five-year bill. So we know we would have it for five
years. Whereas right now, we are working on it year to year.
So that is an effort to be directly responsive to what you
are talking about. Your testimony was very powerful today, we
knew it would be, and it was. We thank you for being here. And
we all acknowledge we have to do more with law enforcement,
whether it is FBI, DOJ, BIA, on-reservation, off, to get then
working and to be responsive. It is a very, very important
issue.
Again, I thank you for being here, and we will turn to Vice
Chairman Udall for his closing remarks.
Senator Udall. Chairman Hoeven, thank you very much for
your comments and your commitment to this issue. I think there
is a reason this is one of our longest hearings, because I
think we needed that time and attention to this issue, no doubt
about it.
One of the issues, and I will put questions to the record
to all the law enforcement people that appeared here, and first
just thank all of you for the passionate, moving testimony. I
think you really highlight in a very significant way why we are
here.
To me, one of the biggest issues here is the resource
issue. Do we have adequate law enforcement officers to do the
job? At one level, you are only as good as the people you have
working on the problem. So numbers are really important here.
I have numbers that are not totally, you don't see the
total spread, total broad brush. But it gives you a little bit
of an idea. The best practices in law enforcement are to have
about three officers for a thousand people. That is what most
of our cities and counties and State police, that kind of
situation, three officers per 1,000 people.
Indian Country is over 87,000 square miles, or nearly one
people live on or near reservations. Yet the FBI only has 140
FBI agents assigned to investigate Indian Country crimes. So
let's take that out to the three and compare. There is only
0.14 agents per 1,000 reservation residents. So we are talking
there about a small fraction of what is needed; 0.14 is a
fraction, a very small fraction of one officer, not the three
officers, which are the best standard.
BIA, tribal, State law enforcement also provide public
safety services on tribal lands. But they experience similar
officer understaffing issues. For example, the Navajo Nation
estimates there are 0.85 officers per every 1,000 individuals.
So that is closer to one, Council Delegate Crotty, but it still
is not even the one. So you are well below the three.
So the testimony here, and especially, Kimberly, yours,
said law enforcement failed your sister. And you noted other
failures that you have heard about. If we don't even have the
minimum number of law enforcement officers needed, we are going
to have more of those failures. There is no doubt about it. We
see that, and we have heard that.
So in my opinion, this is totally unacceptable. I would
just say, FBI and BIA, please take note here. I hope that you
are putting in the requests. A lot of times, we have a very
hard time with witnesses coming from the Executive Branch
telling us what they are actually requesting, because they have
to defend the overall budget document.
But I would just urge the FBI and the BIA, put in the
request and ask for the adequate numbers of law enforcement
officers that are needed for this situation. Now, there is a
lot more than just numbers, and you all have elucidated that.
But I just wanted to, in my closing, talk a little bit about
where we are in terms of numbers. If this was occurring in a
county some place, and you had those numbers that low, the
elected officials would immediately raise the numbers and say,
we have to get after this.
Same thing is true of a State, or, we had a big crime
problem in our big city of Albuquerque recently. The mayor
immediately came out and said, I want 300 more officers on the
streets. And he is in the process of hiring those.
So I think we need to focus on that adequacy. But once
again, let me thank the witnesses in terms of you have
highlighted the kinds of things that we need to be doing. I
think this is really, as Senator Tester and the chairman have
said, I think we are going to continue to look into this. He
has the SURVIVE Act. We have Savanna's Act. And based on this
hearing, we may have more things that we have to put in in
terms of legislation. We obviously have our work to do on
Appropriations.
So thank you again, very much. We really appreciate it.
The Chairman. Thank you, Vice Chairman Udall.
If there are no more questions from the members, you do
have the opportunity to submit follow-up questions. So there
may be follow-up questions that you would get for the record.
We would ask that you try to respond, and the record stays open
for two weeks. We would ask that you respond to those
questions.
I want to thank the witnesses again for your time and for
your testimony. We truly appreciate it.
With that, we are adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 5:26 p.m., the hearing was concluded.]
A P P E N D I X
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Tom Udall to
Kimberly Loring-Heavy Runner
Question 1. 1. What can Congress do to improve coordination efforts
among federal, state, local and tribal Lea's?
Answer. I believe law enforcement's poor coordination efforts and
lack of communication with family was the result of poorly trained Law
enforcement officers. The proper training and education on mmiw will
help benefit the outcome of these women's cases. Law enforcement
agencies have been dealing with mmiw cases for decades with little to
no success. These numbers of unsolved cases should have been enough
evidence to prove that the protocol they are using is not working, and
desperately needs to be changed. All Officers need to go through
enhanced training when working with missing and murdered indigenous
people cases and obtain all the proper tools to end this silent crisis.
Question 2. What more can congress do to increase NamUs usefulness
in finding missing and murdered indigenous women?
Answer. To be honest I never heard about NamUs till the day of the
MMIW hearing. On December 12th 2019, 17 months after Ashley went
missing. I was never educated on the usefulness of NamUs. I believe
congress should push for NamUs to be required by law that all law
enforcement agencies be required to use NamUs as well as update NamUs.
Question 3. What do you think would be the most helpful when it
comes to investigating missing and murdered indigenous women?
Answer. The law enforcement need to take every MMIW case seriously
as they do every other case. Ashley case was mistreated and mishandled
by law enforcement which resulted with Ashley case going on unsolved
for almost 2 years. I believe coming up with a well organized protocol
that allows law enforcement to be well trained with dealing with MMIW
cases. Forming a special task force just is designed to work only with
MMIW. I believe this would work for law enforcement as well with
families of MMIW. The biggest down fall with law enforcement is
communication. By forming a special task force for MMIW, it will
improve communication as well as hopefully solve more cases.
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Tom Udall to
Patricia Alexander
Question 1. While many of your tribal members are spread out across
vast rural areas, you also have many members living in urban centers.
This means that some of your members face very different circumstances
and issues than others, and both situations present their own
challenges when it comes to addressing the crisis of missing and
murdered indigenous women and girls. How do you think about the
divide--when it comes to resources, law enforcement jurisdiction, and
the threats women and girls face to their safety?
Answer. We agree that we have diverse citizens that travel and live
all around the world. However, the majority are still located together
in their home villages, neighboring relative's villages or other
similar area. The resources to our rural areas are often scarce, but
needed. Our Urban populations may have access to other resources as
general ``citizens'' of the US, but our village citizens truly have
vast limitations. We need resources, money, services and training to
provide the necessary support. The State of Alaska, as a PL 280 state,
has been tasked with providing these services, but over the years we
continue to see that they don't understand our needs and their
priorities are often not what we consider primary. In addition, with
the budget crisis in Alaska, we see a dwindling of resources to our
villages. An example is if a judicial officer retires and has served a
village, the state may not fill that position. That happened in Kake,
Alaska where long time magistrate Mike Jackson retired. The state
closed the court there. This story is not unique. In the same village,
the city had police. The state no longer funds law enforcement there.
The city of Kake is required to call into an offsite 911/1-800 service
for any emergencies, sometimes only able to leave a message. Law
enforcement response is often delayed, which jeopardizes the chain of
custody of any potential crime to be investigated. Our villages need
resources.
Question 2. As Patricia likely knows, the Department of Justice
operates a ``central clearinghouse'' database to help share information
about missing persons cases called NamUs. There is no requirement/law
that all missing persons cases be entered in NamUs. And, even though
the system is supposed to be accessible to families to input
information, at least one law enforcement agency has to approve all
inputted information. So, Senator Udall is interested to know more
about how often missing person cases on tribal lands are entered into
the system. He will likely ask--Does Patricia know if her Tribe--which
is dependent on the State and VPSOs--has access to NamUs/clearance to
initiate cases in the NamUs system?
Answer. NamUs is different than FBI CJIS's Missing persons file,
they are two separate systems that cannot currently talk to each other
for several reasons. Anyone can have access to NamUs, literally. All
they have to do is set up an account, and enter the information they
want to enter about a missing person. Then the NamUs staff take that
information and confirm with LE before it can go out publically. There
are less missing Native persons in NamUs than there are in FBI CJIS's
missing persons file, likely because LE doesn't use it in the same way.
NamUs is completely voluntary, and was originally set up to try to
match remains found with people who were missing. FBI CJIS's database
is also voluntary except for entry of missing persons under age 18
which is mandatory, and then some states have mandatory missing person
reports to CJIS by their state law but it is way less than half. So the
question that has been asked apparently is if the Tribe has access to
initiate cases in NamUs, and the answer is absolutely, anyone can enter
this information. However, we do not currently have the infrastructure
that would track this type of information and assign someone to enter
such information.
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Catherine Cortez Masto
to Patricia Alexander
Question 1. While many of your tribal members are spread out across
vast rural areas, you also have many members living in urban centers.
This means that some of your members face very different circumstances
and issues than others, and both situations present their own
challenges when it comes to addressing the crisis of missing and
murdered indigenous women and girls. How do you think about the
divide--when it comes to resources, law enforcement jurisdiction, and
the threats women and girls face to their safety?
Answer. We agree that we have diverse citizens that travel and live
all around the world. However, the majority are still located together
in their home villages, neighboring relative's villages or other
similar area. The resources to our rural areas are often scarce, but
needed. Our Urban populations may have access to other resources as
general ``citizens'' of the US, but our village citizens truly have
vast limitations. We need resources, money, services and training to
provide the necessary support. The State of Alaska, as a PL 280 state,
has been tasked with providing these services, but over the years we
continue to see that they don't understand our needs and their
priorities are often not what we consider primary. In addition, with
the budget crisis in Alaska, we see a dwindling of resources to our
villages. An example is if a judicial officer retires and has served a
village, the state may not fill that position. That happened in Kake,
Alaska where long time magistrate Mike Jackson retired. The state
closed the court there. This story is not unique. In the same village,
the city had police. The state no longer funds law enforcement there.
The city of Kake is required to call into an offsite 911/1-800 service
for any emergencies, sometimes only able to leave a message. Law
enforcement response is often delayed, which jeopardizes the chain of
custody of any potential crime to be investigated. Our villages need
resources.
*RESPONSES TO THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS FAILED TO BE
SUBMITTED AT THE TIME THIS HEARING WENT TO PRINT*
Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Tom Udall to Charles Addington
Staffing
Question 1. Indian Country is over 87,000 square miles and nearly 1
million people live on or near reservations. During the hearing,
Senator Udall stated, ``the best practices in law enforcement are to
have about 3 officers for 1,000 people, [yet] there's only 0.14 agents
for 1,000 reservation residents.'' The Committee has heard from Tribes
that there is a law enforcement shortage in Indian Country. This law
enforcement shortage affects coordination efforts to resolve missing
and murdered Indigenous women cases.
a. What is the proportion of BIA officers to total residents on
tribal lands in the United States?
b. Does the BIA have plans to increase the number of BIA
officers on tribal lands?
Question 2. Where is the central location for BIA officers with
respect to reservation populations within Indian country?
Question 3. Many tribal communities are located in rural areas.
Does the BIA have data on the average response time of its officers to
crimes committed within Indian country?
Question 4. As mentioned by Navajo Nation Council Delegate Amber
Crotty, one barrier to solving crimes in Indian country is a lack of
medical examiners. She mentioned that there were zero medical examiners
located within the Navajo Nation, which encompasses more than 27,000
square miles of land and inhabited by 350,000 people. The lack of
medical examiners means deceased victims within Navajo Nation must be
transported hundreds of miles away to urban medical centers to conduct
an autopsy.
a. Does the BIA have data on how many tribes do and do not have
medical examiners within their tribal communities?
b. Does the BIA have plans to provide tribes with better access
to medical examiners?
Data and Coordination
Question 5. The Tribal Law and Order Act (TLOA) requires the
Offices of the United States Attorneys to designate an Assistant United
States Attorney as a Tribal Liaison to facilitate communication,
coordination efforts, and conduct outreach to the tribal law
enforcement. Recent Department of Justice reports indicate that
communication and outreach vary from robust to non-existent between
Tribal Liaisons and tribal authorities. Do the BIA law enforcement
officers engage with Tribal Liaisons in missing and murdered indigenous
women (MMIW) cases?
Question 6. The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System
(NamUs), administered by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), is a
nationwide clearinghouse on missing and unidentified or unclaimed
deceased persons for all stakeholders, from the general public to law
enforcement agencies. In January 2019, NamUs plans to update their
database to include five additional fields for Native people. Those
fields are:
a.Individual's primary residence located on or near tribal
lands;
b.Tribal enrollment or affiliation status;
c.Last known location located on or near tribal lands;
d.Location of remains on or near tribal lands, and
e.Tribal participation in the Tribal Access Program.
There is no requirement for law enforcement agencies to create a
record in NamUs when undertaking a missing persons investigation.
a. Does the BIA currently utilize NamUs when tracking MMIW
cases? If not, does the BIA plan to utilize NamUs in the
future?
b. Does the BIA have plans to utilize the five additional
fields on Native peoples come in January 2019?
______
Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Tom Udall to Hon. Amber Crotty
Data and Coordination
Question 1. During the hearing, you indicated that the lack of
coordination between federal, state, and tribal law enforcement
agencies (LEAs) is a critical obstacle to the effective investigation
of crimes within the Navajo Nation. You also mentioned that state LEAs
have actively approached the Navajo Nation to improve coordination and
data collection efforts. What can Congress do to improve coordination
with tribal law enforcement agencies such as Navajo Nation Police
Department?
Question 2. You mentioned in your testimony that the planned
expansion of the Tribal Access Program (TAP) provides ``tribes with
access to national crime information systems for both criminal and
civil purposes. [This] presents an opportunity for congressional
leaders to expand the program to develop a database to adequately track
missing Navajo citizens and compile information to share across
jurisdictional boundaries.'' What can Congress do to increase tribal
access to TAP and ensure that TAP effectively serves the Navajo Nation
and other tribes?
Question 3. During the hearing, you mentioned the data collected by
the Nation and their federal partners was different. The difference in
data collections leads to an inaccurate count of missing and murdered
individuals.
One potential solution is the National Missing and Unidentified
Persons System (NamUs). NamUs a national missing person clearinghouse
and resource center for all stakeholders, from Law Enforcement Agencies
(LEAs) to the public. DOJ is updating NamUs in January 2019 to include
more five informational fields on Native people. Those fields include:
Individual's primary residence located on or near tribal
lands;
Tribal enrollment or affiliation status;
Last known location located on or near tribal lands;
Location of remains on or near tribal lands, and
Tribal participation in the Tribal Access Program.
a. What more can Congress do to help the Navajo Nation and
other Tribes successfully utilize NamUs to track missing and
murdered Indigenous people?
b. What can the National Institute of Justice do to help the
Navajo Nation and other Tribes successfully utilize NamUs?
Staffing and Training
Question 4. In your testimony, you noted that because the Navajo
Nation does not have its own Office of the Medical Investigator (OMI),
a decedent must be transported to Albuquerque, New Mexico, which is
over three hours away, to a state facility for an autopsy. The distance
from a crime scene to the OMI has a negative effect, such as report
delays, on the investigation and could make the crime more difficult to
prosecute resulting in case declinations.
a. What can Congress do to help Tribes, like the Navajo Nation
obtain their own OMIs to help increase the efficiency of
investigations?
______
Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Tom Udall to Robert Johnson
Declinations
Question 1. According to a 2017 Department of Justice (DOJ) report
on Indian Country investigations and prosecutions, the Federal Bureau
of Investigations (FBI) declined to refer 20.5 percent of the Indian
Country criminal investigations it opened to U.S. Attorney's Offices
(USAOs) for prosecution. The primary reasons for closing cases without
a prosecutorial referral were: 1) the cases did not meet statutory
definitions of a crime or USAO prosecution guidelines, and 2) the cases
contained unsupported allegations.
a. What is the FBI's standard for declining to refer a case to
a USAO?
b. How does the FBI evaluate whether or not allegations in a
criminal investigation are supported?
c. Does the FBI track how many of these cases involve missing
or murdered Indigenous women?
Question 2. The same DOJ report states that USAOs declined to
prosecute 37 percent of all Indian country cases referred to them, with
the most commonly cited reason for doing so being ``insufficient
evidence.'' Insufficient evidence is broadly defined and there is very
little data on what is considered insufficient evidence.
a. What is the DOJ's standard for declination on the grounds of
insufficient evidence?
b. Does the DOJ have feedback from USAOs who work in Indian
Country about why evidence gathered at a crime scene is deemed
insufficient and the case must be declined?
c. Does the DOJ or other federal agencies provide training
regarding evidence gathering to local law enforcement
officials? Are there guidelines or protocols that must be
followed?
Staffing
Question 3. Indian Country is over 87,000 square miles and nearly 1
million people live on or near reservations. During the hearing,
Senator Udall stated, ``the best practices in law enforcement are to
have about 3 officers for 1,000 people, [yet] there's only 0.14 agents
for 1,000 reservation residents.'' There are not enough officers and
agents in the field to ensure the safety of Native communities. This
law enforcement shortage directly affects coordination efforts to
resolve missing and murdered Indigenous women cases.
a. FBI coverage in Indian country is just a fraction of what
best practices in law enforcement recommend. What are the FBI's
plans to remedy this situation?
Question 4. Indian Country covers a large area and many tribal
communities are located in rural areas. There are 36 FBI field offices
located throughout the country and many are located in larger
metropolitan areas like Albuquerque, New Mexico and Phoenix, Arizona.
Albuquerque is over 160 miles from the capital of the Navajo Nation and
Phoenix is over 280 miles away.
a. Where are the 140 FBI agents assigned to Indian Country
located with respect to the reservations in Indian country?
b. Does the FBI collect data on the average response time of
its agents to crimes committed in Indian country?
i. If yes, what is the average response time and is this data
publicly available?
Data and Coordination
Question 5. You mentioned during the hearing that the FBI is
improving its primary database on missing persons, the National Crime
Information Center (NCIC), with input from law enforcement agencies
(LEAs), including tribal LEAs. One of these improvements involves
developing a new ``name search algorithm that will enhance the ability
to search Native American names.''
a. Has the FBI tested the efficacy of the name search algorithm
regarding identification of missing or murdered indigenous
people?
b. Has the FBI considered adding additional fields, such as
tribal enrollment information, regarding Native peoples to
NCIC?
Question 6. The lack of data sharing among LEAs is one of the
obstacles to an efficient and effective police response to crime in
Indian country. LEAs are not required to enter information into the
National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs). Access to the
National Crime Information Center (NCIC) requires certification for
current or pending law enforcement employees with a background and
fingerprint check. Furthermore, information cannot be shared between
NamUs and NCIC. These restrictions on access and sharing of vital
information must be addressed.
a. What legal or structural obstacles exist that prevent the
FBI from sharing information on crimes in Indian country with
other LEAs?
b. Does the FBI utilize Tribal Liaisons in communicating
relevant information on Indian Country crimes to tribes, and
vice versa?
c. Does the FBI utilize the National Missing and Unidentified
Persons System (NamUs) to track or solve crimes within Indian
Country?
______
Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Tom Udall to Gerald LaPorte
Data and Coordination
Question 1. You elaborated on the five fields to be added in
January 2019 to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System
(NamUs) on Native people. Those fields are:
a. Individual's primary residence located on or near tribal
lands;
b. Tribal enrollment or affiliation status;
c. Last known location located on or near tribal lands;
d. Location of remains on or near tribal lands, and
e. Tribal participation in the Tribal Access Program.
I am encouraged by your efforts to involve Native stakeholders,
tribal, state, and federal, in the process of developing and
implementing these fields.
a. What are is the National Institute of Justice's (NIJ) plan
for reviewing the purposeful utilization of these fields?
b. Will the NIJ include their findings in a report?
Training
Question 2. During the hearing, you stated that NIJ has a ``boots-
on-the-ground team'' that provides training, technical assistance, and
case support to aid investigations. You also stated in the past year,
NIJ had concentrated their efforts to provide training and outreach to
Indian Country. In fact, NIJ states they held 22 events in 13 states.
However, testimony from our tribal witnesses indicate that neither
training nor outreach was conducted within their tribal communities.
a. Please provide a list of the past training and outreach
events conducted within Indian Country.
b. Does NIJ plan to provide more training events for Tribes?
Staffing
Question 3. You mentioned during the hearing that NIJ has been
working with the Office of Victims of Crime (OVC) to create a tele-
medicine program to ensure that rape victims in remote areas, such as
Alaska, do not have to travel to distant urban areas for examinations.
a. What is NIJ's timeline for implementing this program in
Alaska Native villages?
______
Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Catherine Cortez Masto to Charles
Addington
Question 1. In the Urban Indian Health Institute's eye-opening
report on missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, the authors
of the report come to the conclusion that ``no agency can adequately
respond to violence it does not track.'' Do you agree with this
statement, yes or no?
a. What are you doing in order to improve the data collection
on missing and murdered indigenous women and girls?
Question 2. What role do you believe human trafficking plays in the
crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls?
Question 3. In your testimony, you described how the BIA has
partnered with DOJ's Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) to
create new data fields to capture tribal affiliation data. What kind of
outreach to law enforcement agencies and tribes are you conducting to
make sure all relevant parties are aware of this change and are using
it effectively?
Question 4. Ensuring tribal enrollment information is accurately
recorded in federal databases is one of the provisions of Savanna's
Act, which recently passed the Senate. Are you working with databases
other than NamUs to ensure they all capture tribal affiliation data?
Question 5. Tribal access to federal crime databases is an ongoing
issue. To your knowledge, do tribes have full access to NamUs and the
National Crime Information Center (NCIC)?
Question 6. Other witnesses before the committee described the need
to help families of missing women navigate the complex web of law
enforcement systems and databases. What role should BIA play in helping
family members when a loved one goes missing?
Question 7. Witnesses before the committee all agreed that more
data should be collected on missing and murdered indigenous women and
girls, but collecting or reporting data that includes personally
identifiable information can be dangerous, and increased data
collection can add responsibility to public safety officers and victim
service providers. How do we learn more about the problem confronting
us without putting victims at risk or making it harder for law
enforcement and victim service providers to do their jobs?
______
Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Catherine Cortez Masto to Robert
Johnson
Question 1. In the Urban Indian Health Institute's eye-opening
report on missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, the authors
of the report come to the conclusion that ``no agency can adequately
respond to violence it does not track.'' Do you agree with this
statement, yes or no?
a. What are you doing in order to improve the data collection
on missing and murdered indigenous women and girls?
Question 2. What role do you believe human trafficking plays in the
crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls?
Question 3. Other witnesses before the committee described the need
to help families of missing women navigate the complex web of law
enforcement systems and databases. What role should the FBI play in
helping family members when a loved one goes missing?
Question 4. Witnesses before the committee all agreed that more
data should be collected on missing and murdered indigenous women and
girls, but collecting or reporting data that includes personally
identifiable information can be dangerous, and increased data
collection can add responsibility to public safety officers and victim
service providers. How do we learn more about the problem confronting
us without putting victims at risk or making it harder for law
enforcement and victim service providers to do their jobs?
______
Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Catherine Cortez Masto to Gerald
LaPorte
Question 1. In the Urban Indian Health Institute's eye-opening
report on missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, the authors
of the report come to the conclusion that ``no agency can adequately
respond to violence it does not track.'' Do you agree with this
statement, yes or no?
a. What are you doing in order to improve the data collection
on missing and murdered indigenous women and girls?
Question 2. What role do you believe human trafficking plays in the
crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls?
Question 3. Witnesses before the committee all agreed that more
data should be collected on missing and murdered indigenous women and
girls, but collecting or reporting data that includes personally
identifiable information can be dangerous, and increased data
collection can add responsibility to public safety officers and victim
service providers. How do we learn more about the problem confronting
us without putting victims at risk or making it harder for law
enforcement and victim service providers to do their jobs?
______
Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Catherine Cortez Masto to Hon.
Amber Crotty
Question 1. In your testimony, you described the need to help
families of missing women navigate the complex web of law enforcement
systems and databases. Can you share any ideas you might have to
address this issue?
Question 2. While many of your tribal members are spread out across
vast rural areas, you also have many members living in urban centers.
This means that some of your members face very different circumstances
and issues than others, and both situations present their own
challenges when it comes to addressing the crisis of missing and
murdered indigenous women and girls. How do you think about this
divide--when it comes to resources, law enforcement jurisdiction, and
the threats women and girls face to their safety?
[all]
| MEMBERNAME | BIOGUIDEID | GPOID | CHAMBER | PARTY | ROLE | STATE | CONGRESS | AUTHORITYID |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moran, Jerry | M000934 | 8307 | S | R | COMMMEMBER | KS | 115 | 1507 |
| Udall, Tom | U000039 | 8260 | S | D | COMMMEMBER | NM | 115 | 1567 |
| Murkowski, Lisa | M001153 | 8234 | S | R | COMMMEMBER | AK | 115 | 1694 |
| Cantwell, Maria | C000127 | 8288 | S | D | COMMMEMBER | WA | 115 | 172 |
| Tester, Jon | T000464 | 8258 | S | D | COMMMEMBER | MT | 115 | 1829 |
| Barrasso, John | B001261 | 8300 | S | R | COMMMEMBER | WY | 115 | 1881 |
| Lankford, James | L000575 | 8113 | S | R | COMMMEMBER | OK | 115 | 2050 |
| Hoeven, John | H001061 | 8331 | S | R | COMMMEMBER | ND | 115 | 2079 |
| Daines, Steve | D000618 | S | R | COMMMEMBER | MT | 115 | 2138 | |
| Schatz, Brian | S001194 | S | D | COMMMEMBER | HI | 115 | 2173 | |
| Heitkamp, Heidi | H001069 | S | D | COMMMEMBER | ND | 115 | 2174 | |
| Cortez Masto, Catherine | C001113 | S | D | COMMMEMBER | NV | 115 | 2299 | |
| Smith, Tina | S001203 | S | D | COMMMEMBER | MN | 115 | 2365 | |
| Crapo, Mike | C000880 | 8289 | S | R | COMMMEMBER | ID | 115 | 250 |
| Kyl, Jon | K000352 | 8250 | S | R | COMMMEMBER | AZ | 115 | 655 |
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