Name: Montana sees 22% increase in missing persons cases over summer
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Montana sees 22% increase in missing persons cases over summer

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You are the owner of this article.You have permission to edit this article.© 2020 Lee EnterprisesMontana sees 22% increase in missing persons cases over summerShare thisPlease subscribe to keep reading. You can cancel at any time.Already a subscriber?or .Loading&amp;hellp;Sign Up Today and Support Local JournalismEnjoy more articles from Billings' Most Trusted Information Source. Subscribers can log in for unlimited digital accessThe number of missing persons cases reported in Montana has spiked since February, according to data from the Department of Justice.From February to August there was a 22% increase in missing persons cases, said missing persons specialist Brian Frost during a virtual Missing Indigenous Persons Task Force meeting on Thursday.As of Thursday, there were 180 missing people reported in Montana, up from 148 in mid-February, he said. Of the 180, about 44, or 24%, of the cases, are Native American.&nbsp;In Montana,Frost said he was unsure why there was a spike in cases, especially after data had begun to show decreasing cases since September 2019.COVID-19 restrictions, warmer weather and economic and school closures may all be contributing factors, he said.A little more than half of the 44 missing Indigenous people in Montana are 21 years old or younger, and 60% are women or girls.&nbsp;Nineteen of the missing Indigenous people were classified as "runaways," and 16 had been missing for more than a year.&nbsp;"It's kind of scary how we're seeing missing persons fluctuate," Frost said.&nbsp;One Native had been reported missing seven times since April, showcasing a trend of youths repeatedly going missing or running away.For missing youths, which made up 25 of the 44 Native Americans known to be missing on Thursday, 15 had been reported missing multiple times.&nbsp;"What happens on time eight or nine?" Frost said. "First time reported missing or sixth time, we have to take it seriously."&nbsp;Yellowstone and Big Horn Counties were missing people "hot spots," Frost said.&nbsp;As of Thursday there were 11 missing persons cases in Yellowstone County, and 8 in Big Horn County, which includes the Crow and Northern Cheyenne reservations.&nbsp;As Montana sees an uptick in missing persons, a website designed to streamline reporting missing people for Native families is only a few weeks from rolling out, said Looping in Native Communities (LINC) coordinator Tina Chamberlain.&nbsp;The legislature created the task force last year with Senate Bill 312, or the Looping in Native Communities Act.State Sen. Jason Small of Busby, a member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, sponsored the bill, which also allocated a $25,000 grant to go to a tribal college to develop a database to compile data on missing Native Americans.The Blackfeet Community College was awarded the grant in March to develop the website.The website should act as a go-between for family of missing Indigenous people who are not comfortable reporting a missing person directly to law enforcement.Families may file a report in the database. Developers are hoping to "enable a process" where the report goes directly to law enforcement and a database specialist. The specialist will also be on hand to provide general information to family.The website will first be tested on the Blackfeet Reservation, pending approval from the tribal council there. Once kinks or improvements are "smoothed out," other reservations will be added to the system likely by next summer, Chamberlain told the task force.A Whitefish company has also offered to develop a database, separate from the website, to track the data coming into the website, Chamberlain said.The task force on Friday also unanimously approved the 47-page report on its work that it must submit to the State Tribal Relations Committee by Sept. 1.&nbsp;The report, compiled by Chamberlain, holds an overview of task force meetings, community listening sessions and training sessions held over the past year, as well as an overview of missing persons data and information on tribal communities and barriers to reporting and finding missing people in Montana.&nbsp;The task force is set to expire in July 2021.&nbsp;Get local news delivered to your inbox!Brian Frost from the Montana Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation speaks during a community meeting put on by the Montana Missing Indigenous Persons Task Force at City College in Billings on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020.Melissa Schlichting of the Missing Indigenous Persons Task Force listens during meeting at the DoubleTree Hotel on Thursday, February 6, 2020.© Copyright 2020 , 401 N Broadway Billings, MT&nbsp;| &nbsp;|Powered by from .{{title}}{{summary}}You don't have any notifications.Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.Topics

You are the owner of this article.You have permission to edit this article.© 2020 Lee EnterprisesMontana sees 22% increase in missing persons cases over summerShare thisPlease subscribe to keep reading. You can cancel at any time.Already a subscriber?or .Loading&amp;hellp;Sign Up Today and Support Local JournalismEnjoy more articles from Billings' Most Trusted Information Source. Subscribers can log in for unlimited digital accessThe number of missing persons cases reported in Montana has spiked since February, according to data from the Department of Justice.From February to August there...

Montana sees 22% increase in missing persons cases over summer

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