On Indian reservations, a dark phenomena is taking place with largely no attention paid to it. More than 5,712 cases of Native women going missing have been documented by the National Crime Information Center. The issue of Native women going missing is such a pervasive issue that, in some areas, Natives are 10 times more likely to be murdered than the average population. This number may not even be accurate as no reliable count actually exists. These cases continue to take their toll on the families of the victims as well as the Native communities as a whole.

The major reasons these cases are going unsolved are the several failings of law enforcement. Indigenous activists have blamed a general apathetic attitude towards these cases by law enforcement. Instances in which police officers are insensitive and even sometimes insulting to victims of missing native women are not uncommon. Additionally, complicated jurisdiction as well as bureaucratic issues regarding which agency should be investigating usually leads to these cases becoming lost. On the other hand, law enforcement agencies within native communities are often understaffed and under equipped to deal with these cases. When the Crow tribe established its own police force in an attempt to be more independent from the bureaucratic loopholes involved in other law enforcement agencies, the police force started out with less than 15 officers. As well as the lack of personnel, lack of radio and cell signals mean that communication between officers would be limited.

Another issue that victims face is authorities incorrectly classifying cases of missing native women. Instances of victims being wrongly classified as another race or ethnicity are not unheard of and many similar unknown victims are thought to exist. There are also instances in which cases are classified as accidents when later evidence suggests otherwise.

In these grim statistics and stories however, signs of change are starting to appear. Seven states have formed their own task forces focused on solving cases of missing women. This approach however is only an early solution to a much bigger issue. In late 2019, former president Donald Trump signed an executive order that would essentially create increased cooperation between law enforcement agencies and address data collection issues. These efforts were praised by some tribal authorities but some activists say this omits many victims such as those in major cities and focuses too much on rural areas.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/09/us/native-american-murdered-missing-women/index.html
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/lack-awareness-data-hinders-cases-missing-murdered-native-american-women-n1235233

https://www.npr.org/2019/07/23/743659569/7-states-step-up-efforts-to-fight-violence-against-indigenous-women
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/25/us/native-women-girls-missing.html