BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Every year, new laws and programs go into effect in California. This year, one of those new programs is a new public alert available to the California Highway Patrol intended to help American Indians.
Similar to an Amber Alert for abducted children or a Silver Alert for an at-risk senior, the Feather Alert is a new statewide public alert program that will go into effect in California in 2023.
"[I]n the state of California, you know, we're so diverse. We're here to provide safety and service for everyone up and down our state, so they felt that they needed to have a Feather Alert for indigenous parties," said CHP Officer Tomas Martinez.
California Assembly Bill 1314 introduced the Feather Alert program to be a resource available to law enforcement agencies and meant to apply to missing indigenous people who meet certain criteria.
Those criteria include:
- The missing person is an indigenous person.
- The investigating law enforcement agency has used available local and tribal resources.
- The law enforcement agency determines that the person has gone missing under unexplainable or suspicious circumstances, or the law enforcement agency believes the person is in danger.
- There is information available that, if disseminated to the public, could assist in the safe recovery of the missing person.
At the hearing of the Select Committee on Native American Affairs about the Feather Alert, tribal leaders called the current problem an epidemic.
Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians Chairwoman Janet K. Bill says tribes are ready to assist law enforcement in using the Feather Alert.
"The violence against Native Americans is a deadly epidemic affecting our most vulnerable and our tribal and surrounding communities. Tribal leaders are standing ready to partner with the legislation and administration to move forward a number of policies that route out and end violence towards indigenous people," said Bill.
Officer Martinez says that the Feather Alert program was instituted to help the indigenous population with more law enforcement resources.
"There's been some studies that show that some indigenous parties have gone missing or disappeared due to unknown circumstances, they have said that they haven't really received the resources and support that they wanted to," said Martinez.
Martinez explained that the response to a Feather Alert would be the same as any similar law enforcement alert.
"The important part about this is the public. If they do see something that matches that Feather Alert or Amber Alert, it's always best to call 9-1-1," said Martinez. "Be prepared to provide information as far as a description of the make and model of vehicle. Maybe they can provide a partial plate."
23ABC reached out to the Tejon Tribe, the Tachi Yokut Tribe, and the Chalon Indian Council. In all cases, we were told they are not commenting on the program at this time.
