Phoenix is among 10 FBI Field Offices that were assigned extra agents and resources to focus on violent crime against indigenous people.
Federal officials say the six-month surge called Operation Not Forgotten was the longest and most intense effort to solve crimes against Native Americans.
FBI agents and other experts on missing and murdered Indigenous people helped with more than 300 cases. And they had help from tools such as ground-penetrating radar, underwater cameras and sonar.
The action comes as investigators work to solve the recent high-profile murders of Apache teens Challistia Colelay and Emily Pike.
More Indigenous Affairs news
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Representatives from the Navajo, Hopi and San Juan Southern Paiute tribes spoke in front of a Senate Committee to support the Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement. -
Native American tribes across the West are trying — and in more and more cases succeeding — in getting ancestral lands back. -
American bison are a symbol of the West that might’ve vanished from this landscape entirely — if not for conservation efforts. Each year, the city of Denver donates buffalo from a long-established herd to federally recognized tribes and nonprofits. -
The U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs has invited tribal leaders from across the Grand Canyon State to testify on Capitol Hill. The Northeast Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement Act is the subject of Wednesday’s hearing. -
Highschoolers across six BIE-run schools in South Dakota, Oklahoma, Montana and New Mexico are already participating, including Northwest High School in Shiprock on the Navajo Nation.
