DENVER, Colo.-On December 30, Colorado joined several states to start using a Missing Indigenous Person Alert (MIPA) system. Because of the large percentage of Native Americans who go missing, the system is designed to raise awareness and give law enforcement access to investigate cases sooner.
Last year, legislation passed in the state to expand the investigation of cases of missing and murdered indigenous people. State lawmakers passed Senate Bill 22– 150, and Gov. Jared Polis signed the bill into law last summer.
When law enforcement receives a report of an Indigenous person missing, the legislation requires them to notify the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) within eight hours and activate the alert system. If the Indigenous person missing is a child who has been abducted, the alert is to be sounded within two hours and an Amber Alert will go out statewide.
When the MIPA Alert is activated, local and state law enforcement, media outlets, and others will be notified. However, unlike the Amber Alert, unless an Indigenous child is abducted, the MIPA will not ping cell phones.
"The CBI understands the importance and effectiveness of the various alerts that are in place in Colorado, and we are pleased to have been asked to develop this newest alert in an effort to quickly locate missing Indigenous persons and return them safely to their loved ones," CBI Director John Camper said in a statement.
The legislation passed last year also required the state to create an office of liaison for missing and murdered Indigenous people.
Two other states besides Colorado have similar alerts. Last March, Washington created a system and later, California launched a Feather Alert to be used when an Indigenous person has been reported missing under suspicious circumstances.
Nationally, there were 782 unresolved cases of missing Native American people as of August 2022, according to data from the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.
