A New Mexico task force charged with addressing missing person cases involving Native Americans is teaming up with researchers in Nebraska on a data collection project. The goal of the federally funded effort is to better define the scope of what many experts and activists have referred to as a silent crisis. Officials say the work began last week. One of the challenges for policymakers across Indian Country has been the lack of a consistent and sustainable system for tracking cases and their outcomes. Researchers at the University of Nebraska-Omaha will be using a model first developed for that state to address data collection gaps across multiple law enforcement jurisdictions.
UNO Researchers Join In Missing Persons Task Force
![Carolyn DeFord poses with the missing persons poster for her mother, Leona Kinsey, who went missing in October 1999.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/c29b97b/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1196x672+0+0/resize/880x494!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.npr.org%2Fassets%2Fimg%2F2019%2F03%2F28%2Fdeford_npr_wide-f4b9cae3f0375f782b9a9b5dfabc56e77da39e83.jpg)
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