09/17/2026
🤝 Enhancing Tribal Collaboration to Build Sustainable Public Safety Partnerships
Building stronger partnerships is essential to improving public safety throughout Indian Country.
A recent roundtable discussion focused on Enhancing Tribal Collaboration to Build Sustainable Public Safety Partnerships, bringing together Tribal, federal, state, and local law enforcement, public safety professionals, and community partners for meaningful conversations surrounding public safety in Indian Country, with a special focus on Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP).
The roundtable brought together attendees representing Louisiana, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, and Oregon, providing an opportunity to hear perspectives and experiences from different Tribal communities and regions while recognizing that many of the challenges facing Indian Country cross jurisdictional and geographic boundaries.
Participants worked to strengthen relationships, share experiences and resources, identify challenges unique to Indian Country, and discuss ways agencies can improve communication, coordination, and information sharing across jurisdictions.
MMIP is not an issue that can be addressed by one agency, one jurisdiction, one state, or one community alone. Cases in Indian Country can involve complex jurisdictional considerations, making established relationships and open lines of communication especially important. Effective responses require trust, collaboration, mutual understanding, and partnerships built before a crisis occurs.
Conversations like these help strengthen connections among Tribal communities and their federal, state, and local partners while ensuring the unique needs, experiences, and voices of Indian Country remain at the forefront of public safety efforts.
Most importantly, this work is about people — those who are missing, those whose lives have been taken, the families searching for answers, and the Tribal communities that continue to carry their stories.
We are grateful for every participant who came to the table from Louisiana, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, and Oregon to share their perspective, listen, learn, build relationships, and commit to continuing this important work beyond the roundtable.
Stronger partnerships. Better communication. Safer communities. A stronger response for Indian Country.
The Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana
Coushatta Tribal Police Department
Reno-Sparks Indian Colony
Louisiana State Police
Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana
Inter-Tribal Council of Louisiana
AMBER Alert in Indian Country
National Criminal Justice Training Center of Fox Valley Technical College
Western Community Policing Institute
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
