Oklahoma lawmakers have introduced a package of bills to improve investigations into the disappearances and murders of indigenous women and children.
One bill orders the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation to hire a liaison to work with state, tribal and federal law enforcement, and victims’ families.
Police would be required to collect identifying information on missing Native children.
And the state Department of Education would have to store photos of Oklahoma school children that could be sent to police. Whether to provide the photos would be the parents’ decision.
A new emergency alert system specifically for Native people called ‘Red Alert’ would be created by one of the bills.
And an hour of mandatory training on the disappearances and murders of Native people would be prescribed for police. The training would include cultural sensitivity lessons.
It’s unclear how many missing and murdered indigenous peoples cases there are, but a 2018 report found Oklahoma has the 10th highest number of known cases in the country.
The legislation is sponsored by Reps. Mickey Dollens, Merleyn Bell and Daniel Pae.