Operation Lady Justice Task Force opens
Third of 7 cold case offices opens in Billings
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News from the Office of Indian Affairs
MONTANA — Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Tara Katuk Sweeney announced the opening of the third of seven offices established under the Operation Lady Justice Task Force to investigate cold cases involving missing and murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives.
“President Donald Trump took action and is committed to addressing the missing and murdered American Indian and Alaska Native crisis impacting communities across the nation, and this cold case office in Billings will be critical to those efforts,” said Sweeney. “As these offices are stood up, we will be better positioned to resolve these cold cases for the victims and their families.”
“The newly created Cold Case Task Force fits well with the Montana Missing Indigenous Persons mission,” said Melissa Schlichting, deputy attorney general and legal services division administrator with the Montana Department of Justice. “We look forward to working with the Cold Case Task Force and addressing missing Indigenous person cases in Montana.”
President Trump’s executive order established the Operation Lady Justice Task Force, a multi-agency effort co-chaired by Secretary Bernhardt and U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr. Its purpose is to enhance the operation of the criminal justice system and address the staggering number of missing and murdered American Indian and Alaska Natives in tribal communities.
The cold case teams have been established in accordance with Executive Order 13898 which President Trump signed on Nov. 26, 2019, to address this crisis. They will be staffed with law enforcement personnel and newly appointed special agents from the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services.
A way for top federal officials to engage, coordinate and work with tribal governments on developing strategies to address the crisis, the Operation Lady Justice Task Force is working to collect and manage data across jurisdictions; establish protocols for new and unsolved cases; establish multi-jurisdictional cold case teams; improve the response to investigative challenges; and provide clarity on the roles, authorities and jurisdiction for those involved. It is also charged with providing a report to the President of its work and accomplishments in meeting the executive order’s mandate.
Since 2019, the Department of the Interior and the BIA have undertaken a number of efforts to address the crisis, conducting criminal investigations, stopping illicit drug activity and solving missing and murdered cases.
The BIA-OJS and their tribal law enforcement officers have seized approximately 6,000 pounds of narcotics worth $30 million in the past two years. Preventing further violence against American Indians and Alaska Natives is largely predicated on ending illicit drug activities and sex trafficking.
The BIA-OJS’s partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, known as NamUs, has led to the development and implementation of new tribal-affiliation data fields to assist law enforcement with capturing information to track missing and murdered persons in Indian Country. Since the addition of these new data fields last year, there has been a 60 percent increase in Native-person entries into the system.
