While they may be first, Toledo Police Chief Duane Garvais Lawrence hopes his department isn’t the last.
“The blight of Missing and Murdered Indigenous women, men and children is a stain on the consciousness of America,” said Garvais Lawrence, a descendent of the Colville Tribe and Fort Peck Assiniboine. “We as humanity need to unite, cooperate and each of us do our part to end the despicable evil that preys upon our women and society.”
On Sunday, the City of Toledo unveiled a small police patch that reads “solidarity” as a tribute to those facing violence in the Indigenous community, the trauma of which often either goes unsolved or unreported. The event coincided with Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) National Awareness Day, held annually on May 5.
Sunday’s ceremony included music by the Cowlitz Canoe Family, speeches from state and local officials and testimonies from Tribal members who traveled from throughout the state to witness the dedication ceremony.
“I want everybody here to understand something. There’s not been a single, not one, police department — federal, state or tribal — that has done this,” Garvais Lawrence said. “The city of Toledo is an amazing place … There’s been nothing but support, teamwork, cooperation, communication, and people helping each other out. And that’s what it’s really about.”
While Toledo is the first agency in the nation to have the patch, many of those in the ceremony hope that it won’t be the last. Garvais Lawrence praised the work of former mayor Steve Dobosh,
“Without their help, we would not have been able to have this event,” Garvais Lawrence said.
In a declaration passed April 17, 2023, the city council said they “stand in support of and demand justice in the epidemic known as Missing Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW), Children and Men.”
The proclamation notes that state Route 505 could be used as “access for potential MMIW abductions and transport.”
In the declaration, the city council declared the patch to be worn on “all patrol officers' uniforms to demonstrate support for victims of MMIW, raise awareness and demand justice.” The declaration also notes the city’s support for two recently passed pieces of legislation that expand protections for victims and survivors of abuse or trauma and establish an endangered missing person advisory designation for missing indigenous persons.
State Rep. Peter Abbarno, R-Centralia, who supported both pieces of legislation, was present at the ceremony Sunday and praised the work of indigenous people who “put this issue on the map.”
“This is such an important issue. A crime against one is a crime against all,” Abbarno said. “We are neighbors, we are a community, and I have the honor of being in the Legislature and the honor of voting on legislation that helped create this.”
For Garvais Lawrence, Sunday was the latest effort to highlight the issue. In 2020, he launched the grassroots Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Bike-Run, inviting bikers and runners to join him on a route from the Washington state Capitol in Olympia to the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., to help uplift tribal communities and raise awareness about crimes against Indigenous people.
According to data distributed at the event, Native Americans disproportionately face higher rates of homicide, incarceration, threats of violence and sexual violence, while offenders are less likely to face charges.
Last year, Washington State ranked second in the country for MMIP. The Washington State Patrol reported 142 cases of missing Indigenous individuals with 62 of those cases involving juveniles.
“I take it personally when we talk about this,” Lewis County Sheriff Rob Snaza said. “And I will tell you, over the past five or six years, the criminal justice training commission has trained more about deescalation, what our officers can do to make better decisions today than we did before. Can we always do better? Absolutely.”
“I will tell you this, we are in this solidarity together. Because when your family’s missing, our family’s missing. This is family to us. Lewis County is a family.”
