Group looks at how crimes reported, services needed
Navajo Nation has no 911 system for residents to call in an emergency
Navajo Nation first lady Phefelia Nez said she was surprised when she learned the reservation that spans across three state lines didn’t have a 911 system for residents to call in case of an emergency.
“I didn’t know because I never had the need of it,” said Nez, who is one of eight members on the New Mexico Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Task Force. “I just assumed that it was out there.”
Navajo Nation residents have to call specific police stations in case of an emergency. She’s aware of the complaints by people who have called dispatch at police stations and said they didn’t get a response. She said some stations don’t even have a dispatcher.
“Distributing information, letting people know the numbers to call, that is on our radar,” Nez said after a meeting of the task force.
Task force member Beata Tsosie of Santa Clara Pueblo said the group has also heard concerns “of a lack of follow-up investigations” once missing persons or murder cases have been reported.
But she said she understands law enforcement agencies “are underresourced” and in need of broader training.
They are among the problems the task force is hearing of as it tries to tackle the issue for which it was formed. The task force is expected to report back to New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham later this year with recommendations of how to address what is considered a national epidemic.
Tsosie said the group is in the process of gathering data to help make recommendations to tribal, local, state and federal government agencies.
And the work has not been slowed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Task force member Becky
Johnson said there have been several Zoom meetings, with the last being held in late June. She said task force members are finalizing the report that will be presented to Lujan Grisham.
Among the issues being addressed is making sure the various law enforcement and other government agencies move toward a uniform system to track the cases of missing and murdered indigenous women. Tsosie and Johnson said some methods of collecting crime data — especially on the federal level — do not record whether victims are Native American or indigenous. The task force believes having accurate data will help them identify the gaps associated with the issue and how to close them.
“When you’re compiling those stats to fill gaps, what kind of services are needed by families and law enforcement agencies?” Nez said. “When it comes to reporting or an investigation, even if it happens on tribal lands, it could go federal, it could go across jurisdictions. How do we smooth out those problems?”
“One of the things I think we need to identify with this task force is how do we link these missing persons with something as simple as domestic violence investigations? Alcohol incidents?” said New Mexico State Police Capt. Troy Velasquez, who serves as the agency’s tribal liaison. “We need to identify those flags so that we can teach our officers to start looking way ahead of time. … Before that lady turns up missing or runs away, whatever it is, what are the red flags?”
In addition to searching for the red flags, Tsosie believes training across different agencies should include making officers aware of cultural insensitivities.
“That could go a long way in building trust and working with law enforcement,” she said.
Members of the task force voiced a concern about the shortage of law enforcement personnel, something that Velasquez said persists not only on tribal lands, but also in other rural areas across the state.
He said law enforcement agencies make up for the shortage by collaborating with each other.
“I don’t think there are any issues with the collaboration,” Velasquez said. “… The collaboration is there between the pueblos and the state, the state and
BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs), the state and Navajo Nation. … There can be gray areas when you figure out who has jurisdiction. We don’t try and argue jurisdiction before we get out there. … If someone needs help, we’re going to help them.”
And while the Navajo Nation and pueblos don’t have 911 systems, he said the service is still available in tribal areas in New Mexico. Velasquez said most calls along the interstates would probably go the State Police dispatch and, in other areas, to county and city law enforcement dispatches. He said State Police would respond to emergency calls directly, and would notify tribal authorities and other agencies. He also said the tribal police departments and other agencies he’s worked with respond to emergencies immediately after they’re called.
But Velasquez said communication between different agencies — especially in the sharing of data — needs to be improved, and that is something the task force is working on.
The task force is also looking at what victims’ advocate services are available and how to best distribute information about them.