Montana Governor Steve Bullock has signed legislation to create a Missing And Murdered Indigenous Person’s Task Force in that state. Under Senate Bill 312, the Looping in Native Communities (LINC) Act creates the task force which includes a representative from each Tribal government on Montana’s seven reservations; other members represent the state’s AG’s Office, the DOJ and the Highway Patrol.

The task force’s primary duties include identifying jurisdictional barriers between federal, state, local, and Tribal Law enforcement and community agencies; and work on interagency collaboration, communication, and cooperation to remove jurisdictional barriers and increase reporting and investigation of missing Indigenous persons.

Eleven members of the task force have been appointed by Montana Attorney General Tim Fox. “I’m confident the members of the Missing Indigenous Persons Task Force will make positive strides in determining the scope of this issue as well as bring forward good recommendations to increase cooperation among public safety agencies and Tribal governments,” Fox said of the task force.

Training on missing indigenous persons and the crime of sex trafficking, such as one held in June 2019 in Helena, are aligned with the task force’s work, a joint effort of the Montana AG’s Office and DOJ, and include presenters from state and federal agencies.

Mark Pollock, a member of the Montana Missing Indigenous Persons Task Force and the Blackfeet Tribal Council, spoke with a reporter about the June training event in Helena. “To hear their stories, you can’t help but be affected by it,” he said. “My hope is that we don’t have to have those stories like that out there anymore.”