The abduction and murder last week of an 11-year-old girl on the Navajo Nation has highlighted the tribe’s lack of an Amber Alert system. Now, a task force will develop an emergency notification method for the 27,000-square-mile reservation. Arizona Public Radio’s Ryan Heinsius reports.
The system will send emergency text messages via cell phone, and also reach areas of the reservation that lack wireless service. Tribal officials are conducting meetings with landline and cell carriers to assess what infrastructure will be necessary for the plan. Wireless service is notoriously spotty on the vast reservation.
The tribe currently depends on outside law enforcement agencies to deliver Amber and other emergency alerts. Some officials and community members, however, say that process takes too much time. It was several hours before an alert was called in by the FBI for 11-year-old Ashlynne Mike and her younger brother.
Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye’s office says the new system is expected to be in place within 60 days.
