A new report finds Wyoming’s Indigenous residents have a disproportionately higher homicide rate than the general population. Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon created the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Task Force in 2012 and assigned the group to address the barriers for investigating and helping victims. The report finds Indigenous people make up less than 3% of Wyoming’s population, yet account for 21% of homicide victims. These rates are also higher than the national average. Tribal communities identified three key barriers to consistent reporting and response to cases.

• Lack of trust in law enforcement and/or the judicial process.

• Absence of a single point of contact among law enforcement, agencies and communities to help families navigate the system.

• Perceived lack of information concerning the timely progress of an investigation or judicial proceeding.

A case that ended with the safe recovery of four missing children from the Arapaho Tribe in Wyoming became the 1,000th AMBER Alert success story. AMBER Alerts were issued in Wyoming and Colorado for the missing children, ages 5, 6, 11, and 14. Authorities believed they were be in imminent danger after being taken by their non-custodial mother. A citizen saw the alert and helped police recover the children from a motel in Colorado. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children has been documenting all successful AMBER Alert recoveries after the program began in 1996.

On March 11, 2020, the AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program and AMBER Alert in Indian Country (AATTAP-AIIC) team, in partnership with the Wyoming State AMBER Alert Program, conducted a one-day AMBER Alert in Indian Country Implementation Meeting with the Wind River Inter-Tribal Council in Fort Washakie, Wyoming.

The Wind River Inter-Tribal Council is comprised of members from the two Tribes on the Wind River Indian Reservation—the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho—which have about 12,500 total enrolled members.

Representatives from the Wind River Indian Community, Wind River Police Department, and surrounding state and county law enforcement agencies were also in attendance. The purpose of this meeting was to bring together representatives from the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho, and the Wyoming State AMBER Alert Program, to develop strategies for implementing AMBER Alert Plans for Tribes in the aftermath of a child abduction.

During this meeting, staff from the Wyoming State AMBER Alert Program provided a presentation on its missing persons programs and resources, specifically  explaining the protocol of working collaboratively to request and issue an AMBER Alert. Presenters emphasized their continued commitment to cooperate and assist the Wind River Indian Reservation and the Wind River Chief of Police with continued AMBER Alert training.

The Wind River Tribal Community representatives and State Representatives also met to discuss state resources and valuable information to ensure a cooperative effort to enhance response in the event of an endangered missing or abducted child. The meeting concluded with a discussion of the role and duties of a possible AMBER Alert Coordinator within the Tribe to represent the Wind River Indian Community, and with concurrence to work with the Wyoming AMBER Alert Program on the development of an AMBER Alert activation plan for the Tribe.

Wyoming law enforcement agencies are now required to collect more information and better collaborate across jurisdictions on cases involving missing or murdered Native Americans. Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon signed a bill on March 9, 2020, that will also help the state's two Tribes implement their own AMBER Alert systems.

The legislation requires Wyoming law enforcement to include biographical information on reports to give the state better data on the number of missing and murdered Indigenous people.

"For the Eastern Shoshone and the Northern Arapaho, we all have our stories," said Wyoming Legislative Representative Andi Clifford, an enrolled member of the Northern Arapaho Tribe. "This is a step in the right direction."

Lawmakers in Wyoming are drafting legislation to address issues involving missing and murdered victims from Indian communities. On October 31, 2019, the Judiciary Committee voted for a bill that would: 1) gather and publish data on missing people with biographical data; 2) require law enforcement agency cooperation; 3) offer training on missing and murdered Indigenous people; and 4) assist the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes if they choose to implement and manage their own AMBER Alert system. Lawmakers are also considering a proposal allowing Tribal police to arrest or cite non-Native American offenders.