The Los Angeles Police Department held a Native American Leadership Academy “graduation” event on Thursday, March 7, the result of an education and trust-building program between law enforcement and local Native American people that included discussions of missing and murdered Indigenous people.
Shyla Fast Horse, 15, of Downey, sings Strong Women’s Song during LAPD’s culmination of a Native American Leadership Academy, an education and trust-building program between law enforcement and local Native American people at their Elysian Park Academy in Los Angeles on Thursday, March 7, 2024. The LAPD is hoping to educate and build trust to help with the missing and murdered Indigenous/Native people crisis following the enactment of Assembly Bill 1314, the Feather Alert. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
At the event, participants remembered the missing and murdered Patricia Lopez by releasing a dove. Following the enactment in 2022 of California state Assembly Bill 1314, which created the Feather Alert Program statewide, the LAPD recommended establishing the academy, which represents “a collaborative venture with esteemed leaders from our Nation’s First People with the goal to cultivate meaningful partnerships.”
A Feather Alert is used by police investigating the suspicious or unexplainable disappearance of an Indigenous person. Speakers on Thursday included officials from Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’s office. Also participating was writer, poet and television director Tazbah Rose Chavez and former Los Angeles Kings player Jordan Nolan, a community relations ambassador for the team.