Navajo Police stage first event to recognize MMIP

FORT DEFIANCE – On Nov. 4, the Navajo Police Department invited families to the inaugural Missing Persons Day to remember and spread awareness of missing and unidentified persons in the Navajo Nation.

The Navajo PD coordinated its effort at Window Rock Unified School District in Fort Defiance to support families of missing persons. Families were encouraged to provide DNA, meet law enforcement, and learn more about advocacy programs.

Families were asked to bring photos of loved ones and their medical and dental records and meet with NamUs (National Missing and Unidentified Persons System) staff to provide updated information to the system.

Roughly 11 families attended the event.

Reycita Billie, the Division of Public Safety supervisor and the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) liaison coordinated the event.

“One of the reasons I wanted to create this Missing Persons Day (is) to make sure the families know that law enforcement is working together,” said Billie, as around 11 law enforcement agencies and 10 programs/departments met with the families in attendance.

“Through the time that I’ve been MMIP liaison for the past year and a half,” Billie said, “it’s just constant communication with them (agencies).”

Billie expressed challenges of the boundary between law enforcement and families due to “trust issues.” However, with Missing Persons Day and future events, Navajo PD hopes families will slowly remove the barrier to building relationships.

Billie feels the need to be the voice for families and coordinate support efforts by asking families what they need from law enforcement.

“A lot of the families just want answers,” said Billie.

Other challenges exist, such as if a family’s case were under Criminal Investigation, they must consult with CI.

However, Billie encourages anyone with a missing loved one to have a point of contact between family and law enforcement so that both sides may communicate effectively and be trustworthy enough to gather information.

“It’s not just working with missing persons. It’s working with domestic violence (and) child abuse,” Billie said.

Billie’s goals are to continue supporting families by coordinating efforts to make it a goal to have no relatives missing. Still, this goal would also yield efforts from other law enforcement agencies.

“All those 80-(plus) people that are missing, their families have a right to know where they’re at,” Billie said.

Police Chief Daryl Noon hopes to add a “closer to home” event for families, including meeting law enforcement agencies and supporting advocacy programs.

“(We) wanted to create something, bring it here to Navajo, closer to home, bring all our families here,” Noon said.

Billie shared there are roughly 81 missing people missing from the Nation, and some date back to the 1970s.

“These families have been marching and speaking for so long, and nothing seems to be happening,” said Noon regarding the event’s outcome.

Noon said that families may feel eerie regarding the event because it may feel like “check the boxes” and move on. However, he said it’s an event to receive answers from other agencies and partners to aid in support.

“It was the family that has always been the core of why we (advocates) volunteer, why we coordinate, and why we continue to tell their (families) stories of why our people matter,” said Council Delegate Amber Kanazbah Crotty, a fierce advocate who established the Missing and Murdered Diné Relatives (MMDR) Task Force.

Crotty spoke on behalf of families that have missing relatives. She feels that letters, posters, and the continuation of telling stories are insufficient.

“This is a community-wide issue,” Crotty said. “It’s an ongoing crisis.”

The hope of the event was to bring law enforcement agencies together and to support families and their efforts with their cases of missing loved ones.

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