By Journalist Kennedy Thomason (OSU)
The first unanimous bill passed in the House today.
Zero Star, Rep. Gomez presented her first bill concerning indigenous peoples. The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Act, also known as the MMIP Alert Act, mandates that the Department of Public Safety implement the alert system.
In her author’s explanation, Rep. Gomez said how disproportionately indigenous people are victims.
“The native people, they experience two and a half more times than any other race, some sort of violence,” Rep. Gomez said. “…even being the third leading cause of death, for me, for natives between the ages of 10 and 24 is homicide, and that shouldn’t really be in the top anything.”
These statistics were some of many motivating factors behind Rep. Gomez’s bill. She cited the work of many indigenous people who have worked to rectify this reality.
“For many years the missing and murdered indigenous women have worked relentlessly in being recognized, and even the awareness to be recognized in our nation, for many, many years,” Rep. Gomez said.
This bill was created in response to the high amount of crimes committed against indigenous peoples. The objective is to provide more guidelines around the database already set by SB 172.
“I believe my bill would give some guidance into building that database,” Rep. Gomez said.
The bill expands the protections available to missing indigenous peoples in instances where “there is reason to believe the victim is in imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death.”
The system aims to create a faster and more effective response to missing indigenous peoples over the age of 18. The Amber Alert system protects children, but the MMIP Act extends these protections to indigenous adults.
Investigating tribal police or law enforcement must find the appropriate criteria for an MMIP Alert. The alert will be sent along four different methods of communication: EAS (Emergency Alert System), OLETS (Oklahoma Law Enforcement Telecommunications Systems), digital road signs and email.
As an indigenous woman, this bill sits close to Rep. Gomez’s heart.
“It hits a hard part because you have not been forgotten, and I’m so glad that we’re in a generation that this is important,” Rep. Gomez said. “So it means a lot to so many, our ancestors, and our future generations.”