There is a gap in alert systems across the U.S.
When a child goes missing, an amber alert is issued; when a senior goes missing, a silver alert. But, according to Highway Patrol Trooper Jenna Clawson Huibregtse, when someone between 18 and 64 goes missing, there isn’t an assigned system.
This is especially important in North Dakota, because of the alarming number of Native women and teens who go missing or are murdered each year.
A federal act was signed a couple of years ago to kick start the Ashanti Alert Network, a nationwide communication system meant to bring home missing adults.
“North Dakota is starting to look at that and see how that can better serve all North Dakotans, but there particularly needs to be an emphasis on missing and murdered Indigenous people, because we see higher rates of people going missing,” Trooper Clawson Huibregtse added.
So far, only two states have been able to start this process.
North Dakota is in the infancy stages of planning to bring a bill before the state legislature that will support the Ashanti Network here.
