GREAT FALLS — Members of the Missing/Murdered Indigenous Women Task Force met in Great Falls on Saturday.
Montana Senate Bill 312, or the Looping in Native Communities (LINC) Act, created a missing indigenous persons task force that includes a representative from each tribal government on Montana’s seven reservations and the Little Shell Chippewa Tribe.
The primary duties of the task force include the administration of the LINC Act grant program; identification of jurisdictional barriers among federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and community agencies; and the identification of ways to improve interagency collaboration to remove jurisdictional barriers and increase reporting and investigation of missing indigenous persons.
The task force members are:
- Councilman Mark Pollock (Blackfeet Tribe)
- Councilman Mike Corcoran (Chippewa Cree Tribe)
- Ellie Bundy (Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes)
- Valerie Falls Down (Crow Tribe)
- Councilwoman Brandi King (Fort Belknap Indian Community)
- Councilman Jestin Dupree (Fort Peck Tribes)
- Councilwoman Iris KillEagle (Little Shell Chippewa Tribe)
- Brandi Beckman (Northern Cheyenne Tribe)
- Deputy Attorney General Melissa Schlichting (Attorney General’s Office)
- Montana Missing Persons Clearinghouse Manager Jennifer Viets (Montana DOJ)
- Sgt. Derek Werner (Montana Highway Patrol)
