The Federal Communications Commission is launching a new nationwide alert code for missing and endangered Indigenous people who do not fit the criteria for an Amber Alert or Silver Alert. This new alert code , according to the federal agency, would be similar to the nationwide Amber Alert system and will help law enforcement agencies across the country to issue timely alerts to the public through cellphones, televisions and radios. The new "MEP" alert code is part of the efforts to address disparities in searching for and locating thousands of missing Indigenous persons in the U.
S., who are at higher risk of being victims of violence, homicide, and of going missing, the FCC said in a news release. "We just made it easier to find missing and endangered persons, particularly those from indigenous and tribal communities," the federal agency said in a post on X.
The new code will help tribal, state and local law enforcement agencies broadcast alerts for missing persons who do not meet the criteria for an Amber Alert for children and a Silver Alert for senior citizens. In testimony ahead of last Wednesday's unanimous vote, Lavina Willie-Nez, Amber Alert coordinator for the Navajo Nation Police Department in Arizona, said that each time an Indigenous person goes missing, "we lose a part of our heritage and culture." "The missing endangered person code will greatly assist the Navajo Nation and other tribes where individuals go missing and are in danger," Willie-Nez said.
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