Missing or Murdered Indigenous Women Task Force.

Existing law establishes the Rural Indian Crime Prevention Program, a program of financial and technical assistance for local law enforcement, within the Office of Emergency Services. Existing law establishes the Rural Indian and Law Enforcement Local Advisory Committee, composed of specified members, including one Indian law enforcement officer, and requires the Director of Emergency Services to provide staff services to the advisory committee. Existing law requires the director, in consultation with the advisory committee, to develop guidelines and procedures for the selection of projects to be funded by the program. This bill would create the Missing or Murdered Indigenous Women Task Force in the Department of Justice, and would provide for the membership of that task force. The bill would, among other things, require the task force to complete a formal consultation with California's Indian tribes on how to improve tribal access to databases, develop recommendations for how to increase state resources for reporting and identifying missing and murdered American Indian persons in the state, and develop a database of nonprofit or nongovernmental organizations that provide aid or support in locating missing American Indian persons. The bill would require the task force to submit a report to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2022, detailing, among other things, improvements to tribal database access, interjurisdictional coordination, and law enforcement resource allocation for cases of missing or murdered indigenous persons, as specified. The bill would additionally require the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, in consultation with the task force, to prepare and distribute to law enforcement agencies in the state guidelines and uniform procedures for the reporting and investigation of missing and murdered indigenous persons, as specified, and would require the Department of Justice to employ a missing indigenous persons specialist responsible for building relationships to increase trust between governmental organizations and native communities.