(Fremont County, WY) – The Northern Arapaho Business Council (NABC) is pleased to announce Chairman Jordan Dresser has been appointed by Secretary Deb Haaland of the U.S. Department of the Interior to sit on the Joint Commission on Reducing Violent Crime Against Indians.
Created as part of the 2019 Not Invisible Act, Chairman Dresser and other members of the Commission are tasked with offering recommendations on steps the federal government can take to identify and combat violent crime on tribal lands and against Native Americans.
Over the past two decades, at least 34 Native women in Wyoming were homicide victims, according to a landmark report issued in 2021, and are murdered at a rate 6 ½ times higher than white women.
“Indigenous peoples – especially women – have been victimized by violent crime for far too long, and far too often without justice,” Chairman Dresser said. “I am proud to serve in this important capacity and that the invitation was extended by Secretary Haaland, the first Native American to lead as Secretary of the Interior. It is long past time that Native voices be elevated and federal, state, local and tribal authorities work in concert to end the scourge of violence against our people.”
The Joint Commission will advise Secretary Haaland and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, and has been asked to develop recommendations over the next 18 months on the following topics:
- Identifying, reporting and responding to instances of missing persons, murder and human trafficking on Indian lands and of Indians;
- Legislative and administrative changes necessary to use programs, properties or other resources funded or operated by the Department of the Interior and the Department of Justice to combat the crisis of missing or murdered Indians and human trafficking on Indian lands and of Indians;
- Tracking and reporting data on instances of missing persons, murder, and human trafficking on Indian lands and of Indians;
- Addressing staff shortages and open positions within relevant law enforcement agencies, including issues related to the hiring and retention of law enforcement officers;
- Coordinating Tribal, state, and federal resources to increase prosecution of murder and human trafficking offenses on Indian lands and of Indians; and
- Increasing information sharing with Tribal governments on violent crime investigations and prosecutions on Indians lands that were terminated or declined.