KINY Washington (KINY) - Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced Thursday the formation of a new Missing & Murdered Unit within the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services to provide leadership and direction for cross-departmental and interagency work involving missing and murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives. The Missing & Murdered Unit will help put the full weight of the federal government into investigating these cases and marshal law enforcement resources across federal agencies and throughout Indian country. Approximately 1,500 American Indian and Alaska Native missing persons have been entered into the National Crime Information Center throughout the U.S., and approximately 2,700 cases of murder and nonnegligent homicide offenses have been reported to the Federal Government’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program.