WSP Assess State's Missing, Murdered Indigenous Women Problem

YAKIMA, WA — Washington State Patrol this week released a report assessing problems around tracking missing and murdered indigenous women in the state. The report found that there are at least 56 missing or murdered Native American women here, but also that the problem is likely far under-reported.

The report is the result of a law passed in 2018 by the state Legislature. It asked WSP to assess the scope of violence against Native American women, and find ways to improve reporting and investigations.

One of the biggest problems is coordination between tribes and law enforcement. For example, WSP found that tribes sometimes do not have access to the National Crime Information Center, which is the main law enforcement information system in the nation.

There are also cultural barriers that may hide the scope of the problem. WSP found that family members will sometimes say a missing person is white because they are afraid of stereotypes. WSP also found that sometimes a missing person's race is entered as "N," which can sometimes be mistaken for "negro" rather than "native."

The WSP report comes as Canada is reckoning with a report stating that First Nations women are victims of a genocide. At least 1,200 First Nations women were killed in Canada between 1980 and 2012, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Those deaths account for about 16 percent of all murders of women in Canada, although First Nations women are only about 4 percent of the population.

The WSP report found that Native American women make up about 7 percent of the Washington's total missing persons. The highest numbers are in Yakima County with 20 missing indigenous women, and King County with 12 missing women.

You can read the full WSP report here. For specific cases, you can search the U.S. Department of Justice NamUs database for missing women from Washington.