Attorney General Gentner Drummond announced the launch of a task force dedicated to addressing the MMIP, or Missing Murdered Indigenous Peoples, crisis during the United Indian Nations of Oklahoma annual meeting on Thursday.
"In partnership with the Victim Services Unit of the Attorney General's Office and OSBI, we are creating a task force with our tribal partners because you know best, and you do have resources," Drummond said during the meeting. "We have resources. We have to combine those resources because no family should suffer their family member being missing or their family member being murdered, and the perpetrator not being held in the county."
Drummond said he met with 27 tribal leaders and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation director last month to open a dialogue. Among those leaders was Larenda Morgan, the Cheyenne and Arapaho MMIP Chapter President. Morgan was also an advocate for Ida's law, which created an MMIP liaison office at OSBI to improve tribal, state and federal coordination.
"Something that I think the state task force is going to focus on is trying to find out what these needs are in these different communities and focus on seeing how we can help," Morgan said.
Despite Ida's law taking effect in 2021, many Indigenous families in Oklahoma are still waiting for justice for their loved ones. Morgan said that's because the two agents dedicated to MMIP cases at OSBI have their hands full.
"Just because we establish it as law, I mean the two agents that are working in that unit have tons of cases that they have to deal with — cold cases and, they're out speaking and educating all over law enforcement different places, conferences," Morgan said. "They're also working on data."
Data from the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System shows 83 active missing persons cases of American Indian and Alaska Natives in Oklahoma. Many of those cases are dated.
Drummond noted the task force will utilize new technology to help solve cold cases.
"For example, it's a very graphic, but some bone fragments that we don't know who they are," Drummond said. "But now with the forensics that we have, we can identify the DNA. And then with 23andMe and other data sources like that, we can see this matches with this person."
There are more conversations to be had with tribal leaders in the state, Drummond said, to ensure cultural care is a priority when addressing these cases and holding perpetrators accountable. He said the task force has begun and will continue to meet with tribes on a regional basis.
A spokesperson for the attorney general's office stated that the MMIP task force has not been finalized yet, and the number of members on it has not been determined.
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