Arizona will begin sending alerts for missing Indigenous people ahead of schedule.
After its unanimous passage by state lawmakers, Gov. Katie Hobbs in May signed a bill creating Turquoise Alerts, a statewide notification system similar to Amber Alerts for missing children and Silver Alerts for missing elderly individuals or those with cognitive or developmental disabilities.
The law technically won’t take effect until September. But on Thursday, Hobbs joined tribal leaders at the Arizona Department of Public Safety to announce that Turquoise Alerts would be sent effective immediately, as needed.
“This is about saving lives and protecting vulnerable individuals,” the governor said. “We have mourned too many tragic losses, including recently Emily Pike, because the right tools were not in place.”
Pike, a 14-year Sand Carlos Apache tribal member, first went missing in January. Her dismembered remains were found a month later along an Arizona highway.
Fort McDowell-Yavapai Community Vice President Paul Russell said the new alert eliminates a critical safety gap in tribal communities.
“As tribal leaders, we work very hard to provide for the protection of our respective communities,” Russell said. “The Turquoise Alert will be beneficial, and we see this as an important step toward addressing the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous persons.”
Arizona is now the fifth state in the nation to implement an indigenous alert system.
