A new federal alert system for missing and endangered people will soon launch over TV, radio, and wireless phones. The new has many Native Americans in Oregon and across the U.S. pleased with the news.
Earlier this month, the Federal Communications Commission voted to establish a new alert code. The MEP system is expected to help Native American tribes spread awareness of missing members. The FCC says in 2023, more than 188,000 people disappeared who fell outside the criteria for AMBER Alerts.
“I am excited about it. For me, it's been long overdue,” Desiree Coyote told KLCC. She’s the Family Violence Services Program Manager for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in northeast Oregon, but coordinates with others across the Pacific Northwest and Rockies region.
“I work with quite a few tribes, not just Oregon, but southeastern Washington and northern Idaho, some of the southern Idaho tribes also, and as domestic violence advocates or sexual assault advocates who work for a tribe, we always keep in contact with each other.”
Coyote said an FCC alert would spread the word more efficiently than standard communication methods.
“I'm sitting here with the Umatilla reservation, like, “Okay, who can I share this with to get this out? Definitely need to make sure dispatch gets this, law enforcement this, maybe our communications people. The casino needs to have this,” explained Coyote. “So I'm going down a list of who I need to share this with, I can definitely miss out on sending it to the people who really need to have this on hand.”
The FBI says last year, there were more than 10,000 reported missing Native American or Alaska Native people. This group suffers disproportionate rates of violence, homicide, and disappearance than others in the U.S.
In its release, the FCC said that tribal, state, and local law enforcement agencies originate alerts using the Emergency Alert System by selecting from a group of event codes based on the nature of the situation.
“For example, ‘CAE’ signifies a Child Abduction Emergency, otherwise known as an AMBER Alert. The new ‘MEP’ alert code for missing and endangered persons who do not meet the criteria for an AMBER Alert will enable a more rapid and coordinated response to these incidents," it said.
The FCC added that the new code can also help mobilize public responses to cases of missing Black persons, who make up roughly 35% of missing persons over 18 years old despite being 12% of the U.S. population.
Copyright 2024, KLCC.
