Montana’s Missing Persons Task Force has not met since last summer despite the Legislature funding the group for the next decade.
State lawmakers last year passed two bills carried by Montana’s American Indian Caucus to help missing and murdered people in Montana. But the DOJ did not hire a coordinator for the task force until this month, and has not spent any of the funding allocated for training local search and rescue groups.
According to 2023 state data, Indigenous people make up nearly 7 % of the population and make up a quarter of Montana’s missing persons cases.
In a statement to MTPR, a spokesperson for the DOJ said they are in the process of appointing members to the missing persons task force, now that they have hired a coordinator and are reaching out to tribes about getting representatives. MTPR has confirmed several tribes are in the nomination process.
An interim group of lawmakers is scheduled to hear updates on this legislation this week.
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A new grant fund to provide aid to Indigenous families conducting searches for missing loved ones launched Wednesday. The Montana Community Foundation established the first of its kind program.
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Three bills aimed at addressing the disproportionate number of Native Americans who go missing in Montana have been endorsed by the state House of…
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Of the 179 missing persons in Montana, 29 percent are Native American. Montana’s Missing Indigenous Persons Task Force met on Dec. 17 for an update and to elect a new presiding officer.
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The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes are participating in a national pilot project to improve coordination between agencies investigating missing and murdered Indigenous persons cases.
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On Nov. 7 Blackfeet Community College celebrated the launch of a new missing persons reporting website created in collaboration with Montana’s Missing Indigenous Persons Task Force.
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Montana candidates advancing to the general election are looking forward to the time when they can get back on the campaign trail. The primary election,…