On Friday at noon, Washington State Patrol will launch the new Missing Indigenous Person Alert System, a first of its kind in the nation.
Missing Indigenous Persons is being added as a specific designation to the Endangered Missing Persons Alert systems, such as Amber Alerts that highlight missing children., which implemented the advisory for missing indigenous persons as state legislators found that indigenous people experienced disproportionate rates of violence in Washington, according to a report from WSP.
In Washington, more than four times as many Indigenous women disappear than white women, according to research conducted by the Urban Indian Health Institute in Seattle. While not every missing Indigenous person will qualify for the MIPA alert, the system will be activated based on the following criteria: