Montana Attorney General Tim Fox has named former Glacier County Sheriff’s Deputy Misty LaPlant as the new Department of Justice Missing Persons Specialist.

LaPlant described her duties in this newly created position.

“I’ll be part of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Task Force for the state,” said LaPlant. “I’ll be responsible for managing the Montana Missing Persons Clearinghouse. I will be a liaison for families who have reported a missing person and then assisting law enforcement in any investigation that they have.”

LaPlant highlighted her law enforcement background and her desire to be a part of this new project.

“I work tribal law enforcement for the Blackfeet Reservation and I worked for the Glacier County Sheriff’s Office,” she said. “I also have a bachelor’s degree in social work and special training that relates to human trafficking, child abduction, response to sexual assault, and DUI task force as well as investigating missing person’s cases.”

LaPlant referred to the Montana Department of Justice’s list of missing persons in Montana.

“The Montana Department of Justice has a website where they list the missing persons in the state,” she said. “As of 7:00 a.m. on Tuesday we had in the state 179 people missing, and 30 percent of those are indigenous people. I care so much about this problem and Indian Country in general and I keep it near and dear to my heart. When I worked in Blackfeet law enforcement the Heavy Runner Loring case comes from up there, and I just think we can all do better to help find these missing women, men and children.”

Helena resident Tina Chamberlain is DOJ’s LINC Coordinator. This new position, also under DOJ’s DCI, was created by the 2019 passage of Senate Bill 312.  Known as the Looping in Native Communities Act, it created Montana’s Missing Indigenous Persons Task Force and a grant program for the creation of the Looping In Native Communities Network.  Chamberlain will administer the grant and help the task force find ways to track Montana’s missing indigenous persons.

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