Photo showing Native American female (Pamela Foster)

Three new online videos highlighting the AMBER Alert in Indian Country (AIIC) initiative can be a powerful resource for Tribal communities and law enforcement. The short videos—which are available to watch on the AIIC website—highlight the importance of enhanced training and collaboration to help save children’s lives. Tribes can use the videos to gain a better understanding of the AMBER Alert system and their community’s preparedness. The videos are also a tool to encourage relationship-building among Tribes, state agencies, and law enforcement. In the videos, Tribal law enforcement and government leaders from around the United States share how the AMBER Alert system is vital to helping find missing and abducted children quickly and safely. The videos also show the value of multijurisdictional collaboration and response preparedness in Tribal communities. An AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) AMBER Alert in Indian Country (AIIC) team worked with an Indigenous-led production company on filming in New Mexico. AIIC is part of the National Criminal Justice Training Center (NCJTC) of Fox Valley Technical College. 

The Missing & Murdered Diné Relatives (MMDR) Task Force continues to ramp up training initiatives as part of its strategy to combat the crisis of missing and murdered people across Navajo Nation. The Arizona group recently met with representatives of AMBER Alert in Indian Country (AIIC), part of the AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP), to review updates and information about the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act. It also learned more about AATTAP’s Child Abduction Tabletop Exercise (CATE), a tool that helps communities strengthen emergency response capabilities. MMDR Task Force Chair Amber Kanazbah Crotty called the presentation “a commitment to action, to justice, and to protecting our children and families.” The task force is collaborating with AIIC to schedule a series of training sessions to help Tribal law enforcement officials, educators, and community members be better prepared in cases of missing Indigenous children. It plans to integrate AIIC training programs into its regular meetings.