OKLAHOMA CITY — Several measures have been filed for the state legislature’s upcoming session in an attempt to address Oklahoma’s rate of missing and murdered Indigenous people.
A 2018 study published by the Seattle Indian Health Board’s Urban Indian Health Institute ranked Oklahoma 10th nationally for the number of cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women, but also acknowledged that due to the dearth of data, the numbers are “likely an undercount.”
House Bill 3345, also known as Ida’s Law, would create a liaison’s office within the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation to work with tribal communities and law enforcement, the Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s Office and the Office of the Secretary of Native American Affairs on cases of missing and murdered Indigenous people. The bill also specifically calls for the liaison’s office to be staffed by a missing person specialist who has extensive experience working in and with tribal communities.
The bill is named in honor of Ida Beard, a citizen of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes. Beard disappeared from her El Reno neighborhood in 2015 and, to date, is still missing.
Its author, Rep. Mickey Dollens (D-Oklahoma City) is not a tribal citizen. However, he hosted an interim study on the issue in 2019 after being contacted by Native constituents, including some of Beard’s relatives, about the high rate of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Oklahoma.
With several of its witnesses from the Lawton area, that interim study helped spur Rep. Daniel Pae (R-Lawton) to work with local tribal leaders and file two related measures in an effort to address the problem.
“The interim study was very informative and very powerful, especially the testimony we heard from families with missing relatives,” Pae said.
House Bill 2847 would create a Red Alert system to go out when an Indigenous person disappears and is believed to be at risk for foul play or has other conditions that warrant additional concern. Similar to an Amber Alert when a child is reported missing or a Silver Alert when a senior citizen is missing, a Red Alert notification would be sent out statewide.
“We found out during the interim study that a missing Native person is not included in the Amber Alert system,” Pae said. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
House Bill 2848 would require the Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training to add cultural sensitivity training and at least one hour of instruction on the issues connected to the missing and murdered Indigenous people to its basic training curriculum for law enforcement certification.
“During the interim study, we heard from several family members who felt they were misunderstood or completely ignored by law enforcement,” Pae said. “That shouldn’t be the case when it comes to these situations.”
Related legislation was also filed by Rep. Merleyn Bell (D-Norman). House Bill 3890 expands the parameters of spousal rape to include instances where the victim is unconscious, unable to give consent due to mental illness or incapacitated by narcotics.
Nationally, homicide is the third leading cause of death among Native American women, trailing only cancer and heart disease. In 2016 alone, more than 5,700 cases of missing or murdered Indigenous women and girls were reported to the National Crime Information Center.
According to data from the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, more than half of all Native women nationally are subjected to physical intimate partner violence at some point in their lives and one-fifth have been stalked. Native women are also subjected to higher rates of interracial violence than other groups, with an estimated two-thirds of the sexual assaults against Native women committed by non-Native men.