New Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Regional Outreach Program announced

Program aiming to help combat and address the MMIP crisis

PHOENIX (KYMA, KECY) - The Department of Justice announced the Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) Regional Outreach Program that permanently places 10 attorneys and coordinators in five regions in the U.S. to aid in the prevention and response to MMIP.

The outreach program will dedicate five MMIP Assistant U.S. Attorneys and five MMIP coordinators to provide support to U.S. Attorneys' offices to address and fight the issues of MMIP.

The Attorney's Office said the support includes assisting in the investigation of unresolved MMIP cases and related crimes.

And promoting communication, coordination, and collaboration among federal, Tribal, local, and state law enforcement and non-governmental partners on MMIP issues.

The five regions that will receive this support include the Northwest, Southwest, Great Plains, Great Lakes, and Southeast Regions.

MMIP personnel will be located within the U.S. Attorneys’ offices in the districts of Alaska, Arizona, Eastern Washington, Minnesota, New Mexico, Northern Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, and Western Michigan.

“The Executive Office for United States Attorneys and the United States Attorney community are committed to preventing and responding to cases of missing or murdered Indigenous people. To that end, we will work together with all relevant federal, Tribal, state, and local law enforcement partners to locate missing persons and solve crimes where they have occurred,” said Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys (EOUSA) Director Monty Wilkinson. “This new program will allow the Department to build upon the work done by individual United States Attorneys’ offices and ensure continued support to those offices by coordinating outreach regionally on MMIP matters.”

To read the full press release, click HERE.