The U.S. Department of Justice has chosen twelve federally-recognized tribes for a program that lets them access and share crime data. Two of the tribes are in Oregon.
The Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Indians and the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation are the latest additions to what’s called the Tribal Access Program, or TAP. Launched in 20-15, TAP began in response to tribes’ calls for more direct access to federal data systems, including those of the FBI.
Cedar Wilkie-Gillette is the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) Coordinator for the District of Oregon. She told KLCC that more tribes getting into TAP will aid local investigations.
“Particularly when there is an active missing person case, that could be a very critical time for law enforcement to share information or just try to track that person down.”
Tim Simmons, Assistant U.S. Attorney and Tribal Liaison for the District of Oregon, also welcomed the news.
“Outside of the MMIP area, you also have the ability to get federal access to databases which allows you to do other things, such as enter orders of protection to be enforced on and off tribal lands," he said.
"So having protection orders in a database where all law enforcement can access, has been shown to be very beneficial.”
Another Oregon-based tribe, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, was chosen in 2016. Altogether, 108 federally-recognized tribes are signed on with TAP.
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