The Justice Department announced a new agreement Thursday aiming to improve law enforcement efforts, particularly criminal investigations, in Indian Country.
Under the agreement, the FBI and Bureau of Indian Affairs will update guidelines for providing public safety services on tribal lands, coordinate investigations, share resources to solve open cases and create resolutions to ongoing issues, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced at the 2022 White House Tribal Nations Summit. The agreement comes as the U.S. government grapples with an epidemic of missing and murdered indigenous people.
A disproportionate number of victims of violent crime on indigenous land are women. The BIA reports 84% of American Indian and Alaskan Native women have experienced violence in their lifetime.
You can read the dialogue of Attorney General Merrick Garland’s speech at the Tribal Nations Summit at this LINK
