SALT LAKE CITY — Utah lawmakers are looking at new recommendations to help some of the state's communities that feel forgotten.
A disproportionate number of Native Americans say they have experienced violence in Utah. Research finds that even though they make up make up 1.5% of the population, American Indian and Alaska Native relatives account for over 5% of all murder victims.
An updated report to the state's Murdered and Missing Indigenous Relatives Task Force includes general recommendations, like improving communications between law enforcement agencies, and improving training.
The final report with recommendations was presented to the task force Tuesday.
“This epidemic impacts our communities so much, and every part of our lives,” said Kristina Groves with the Urban Indian Center of Salt Lake.
The task force contracted Wilder Research to compile data and understand the root of the issue. Researchers spent months listening to tragic stories from families, getting insights from experts, and understanding what law enforcement agencies have to deal with.
“We realized as a task force that in order to really address the issues we want to address, we needed to have to research to back what we knew and what we thought was going on with our indigenous relatives here in Utah,” said House Minority Leader, Angela Romero (D-Salt Lake City), who co-chairs the task force with Sen. David Hinkins (R-Orangeville).
Romero added the task force is working on a bill to create a full-time position to focus on addressing the needs and bridging the gap.
Some of the suggestions in the report include establishing a cold case unit, building relationships to increase training on preliminary death investigations, training local law enforcement and communities about how alert systems work, identifying trafficking hot spots, and adding more legal protections.
“Obviously some of this stuff will never stop, but at least they’ll be those safeguards put into place for tribal communities that they feel safer in reporting or even working with agencies. Because a lot of times, tribal members are hesitant to work with law enforcement,” said Tamra Borchardt-Slayton who represented the tribes.
One problem in many cases is figuring out who's in charge of an investigation.
“We have law enforcement that just needs to be coordinated with each other. We got county sheriffs, we got the FBI, Bureau of Indian Affairs, trying to put it together where everybody knows what’s happening,” said Sen. Hinkins.
“I’m really proud of the state of Utah for now taking that position and saying, this is an important topic for our state, and we are committed to creating some of the solutions that it’s going to require to solve this problem,” said Yolanda Francisco, Executive Director of Restoring Ancestral Winds and a member of the task force.
Lawmakers also hope to extend the task force for the next 2-3 years and will bring that up in the next legislative session as they say there is still more work to be done.
