A new public safety tool announced yesterday is expected to improve safety for Indigenous people. The leaders of both Indigenous communities that touch Maricopa have proclaimed support for the new Turquoise Alerts.
Gov. Katie Hobbs last month signed House Bill 2281, also known as Emily’s Law, creating the new Arizona Department of Public Safety program. It was made to honor Emily Pike, a 14-year-old member of the Carlos Apache Indian Reservation, who went missing from a Mesa group home before her remains were found dismembered near Globe.
Gabriel Lopez, chairman of the Ak-Chin Indian Community, called the new alerts “a fitting tribute to Emily Pike.”
“Seconds count anytime an Arizonan goes missing, a fact that our Native communities know all too well,” said Lopez.
For example, one Ak-Chin woman, aged 54, who went missing a year and a half ago was never reported found.
“We have long lived with he painful reality that our Indigenous brothers and sisters go missing at alarming rates and too often slip through the cracks of systems not built to protect them,” said Gila River Indian Community Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis in a press release. “Emily Pike’s story breaks my heart. She was only 14 years old, a young girl with dreams and a family who loved her dearly. Her life was stolen, and her memory calls us to action.”
The Turquoise Alert will be activated when a person goes missing under unexplained or suspicious circumstances and is believed to be endangered. An alert will be issued when there is a report of a missing endangered person, including tribal members under age 65, and specific criteria are met, including:
- The law enforcement agency investigating the missing person report…
- Has used all available local resources
- Has determined that the person has gone missing under unexplained or suspicious circumstances.
- Believes that the missing person is in danger or that the missing person is in the company of a potentially dangerous person.
- Sufficient descriptive information is available to assist in their recovery.
DPS anticipates 15 to 30 Turquoise Alerts per year. This number may grow as public awareness and outreach expand.
“The Turquoise Alert will help more quickly notify law enforcement during these emergencies, improving the odds of a person’s safe return,” Lopez said.
The DPS Alert System now broadcasts four different alerts: Amber, Blue, Silver and Turquoise.
- An Amber Alert is a voluntary partnership between law enforcement agencies and broadcasters to send out an emergency alert to the public when a child is abducted.
- A Blue Alert is activated when a suspect is at large and is suspected of killing or injuring a law enforcement official and poses a threat to the public or law enforcement community.
- A Silver Alert (will be renamed to the Seek and Find Emergency Alert effective Sept. 26) is activated when a person with specific cognitive or developmental disabilities, as defined by statute, or a person the age of 65 or older goes missing. Prior to June 2018, this only applied to persons over 65.
- A Turquoise Alert is issued when a report of a missing endangered person, including tribal members, under the age of 65, and specific activation criteria are met.
“The Turquoise Alert System gives us a fighting chance to bring our people home,” Lewis said. “It means no family has to wait in silence, wondering whether anyone is looking for their child, sibling or parent.”
The governor added: “The creation of the Turquoise Alert System through Emily’s Law is deeply meaningful to me and to all tribal communities in Arizona.”
