A new report from the Wilder Foundation outlines challenges and opportunities for the investigations of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives.

The MMIR office is run by the state. They partnered with Wilder Research in 2022 to conduct this study, and will look at the recommendations moving forward.

Some of the current issues, per the report, include limited law enforcement capacity, lack of trust in law enforcement, and that no tribal community response plans have been developed.

Duluth Police take missing person cases very seriously. Lt. Matt McShane said they treat all cases equally.

“Our investigators and our officers invest a great deal of time and energy and effort into these cases
They care about finding the missing people no matter who they are and trying to bring resolution to the family,” he said.

One MMIW case that’s garnered a lot of attention is Sheila St. Clair, which they continue to investigate.

Short staffing has been a problem with the department. But things are getting better.

And McShane said that additional training funding has been helpful, to keep the staff as up to date as possible about best practices.

To read the report:

https://www.wilder.org/sites/default/files/imports/MN-Office_MMIR_Report_08-23.pdf