Pala Casino is hosting the third annual Missing and Murdered Indigenous People Tribal Policy Summit.
The two-day event began Tuesday and is meant to educate the community about what organizers say has become an epidemic. On its website, the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs says, "Native American and Alaska Native rates of murder, rape and violent crime are all higher than the national averages."
The conference at Pala has drawn tribal members and victims' families from across the country.
Those attendees included the family of Khadijah Rose Britton, who disappeared from Mendocino County seven years ago. She was 23 years old then, and a member of the Round Valley Indian Tribe.
"She was a very friendly young lady," said Lydia Hostler, Britton's grandmother. "Very athletic when she was in school and got along with everybody and always willing to help people."
Britton's cousin, Michelle Merrifield, says many cases are going cold because of disputes over jurisdiction.
"We have a lot of people in our valley that have been murdered and missing, and Khadijah is one of them right now that is ongoing," she said. "The cops and Mendocino County Sheriffs ... that were involved are just saying, 'This happened on your tribal land, your reservation. You take care of it.'"
Summit organizers said one challenge is a federal law passed in 1953. Public Law 280 transferred law enforcement jurisdiction of certain cases from tribal police to state police. But state law enforcement agencies often face a lack of resources and cultural understanding of cases involving Indigenous people.
"Every jurisdiction is different. We have all these tribes, but a lot of them don't all click the same way. So we're just trying to share good experiences, bad experiences and try to come to help each other," said Robert Smith, the Chairman of the Pala Band of Mission Indians.
He said the summit is an opportunity for "networking, talking, hearing the stories of the victims families and the frustrations of calling in a Feather Alert and working with law enforcement."
A Feather Alert is a statewide notification system that works like Amber Alerts for missing children.
Smith says San Diego County tribes have a good working relationship with law enforcement and have very few missing Indigenous people cases.
Other tribes are pushing for more resources and representation in their communities.
