Can you help find these missing Florida kids?

Published  9:54 AM EDT Oct 17, 2012

According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, there are 149 children missing within the last five years in Florida. Can you help find them?

ORLANDO, Fla. —

According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, there are 149 children missing within the last five years in Florida. Can you help find them?

Read more: http://www.wesh.com/news/central-florida/Can-you-help-find-these-missing-Florida-kids/-/11788162/17022432/-/teho0pz/-/index.html

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Louisiana Man Sentenced - Abuse of a Minor Girl:

Department of Justice

Office of Public Affairs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Louisiana Man Sentenced in Virginia to 25 Years in Prison for Filming His Sexual Abuse of a Minor Girl

WASHINGTON – A Louisiana man was sentenced to 25 years in prison this morning in Lynchburg, Va., federal court, after previously pleading guilty to recording his sexual abuse of a 14-year-old girl and related offenses, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia Timothy J. Heaphy.
Gregory Thomas Miller, 57, of Deville, La., pleaded guilty on April 27, 2012, to a 10-count indictment charging him with seven counts of production of child pornography, one count of transporting child pornography, one count of possessing child pornography and one count of marijuana possession.  Today’s sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Norman K. Moon.

According to court documents, Miller repeatedly sexually abused a 14-year-old girl and filmed numerous incidents of the abuse during a several month period in 2008.  In October 2010, the defendant’s car was stopped by National Park Service (NPS) rangers at a DUI checkpoint in Virginia.  The defendant was in the car with the girl he had abused.  NPS Rangers quickly determined that a missing persons/runaway report for her had been recorded with the National Crime Information Center.

A search of the car revealed, among other things, a laptop computer, a digital camera and marijuana.  Forensic examination of the laptop revealed video clips of the 2008 abuse.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Moon sentenced Miller to serve a lifetime of supervised release.  Miller will also be required to register as a sex offender.

This case was investigated by the NPS and the FBI, and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nancy S. Healey and Trial Attorney Darcy Katzin of the Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section.

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India’s Missing Children, By the Numbers:

By Shreya Shah

Sajjad Hussain/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Street children in Mumbai, Nov.13, 2010.

In India, a child goes missing every eight minutes, according to data from the National Crime Records Bureau.

Almost 40% of those children haven’t been found.

That calculation was based on the Aug. 8 response by Jitendra Singh, minister of state for home affairs, to a question posed in the Rajya Sabha, Parliament’s upper house. He said almost 60,000 children in 2011 were reported missing from a total of 28 states and union territories according to the NCRB. Of these more than 22,000 are yet to be located.

West Bengal had the highest number of missing children with more than 12,000 missing in 2011. Madhya Pradesh was next with 7,797 cases while Delhi had 5,111 cases. These are the cases reported. The following states didn’t report any, which experts say is not credible: Maharashtra, Odisha, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Punjab.

Some children are abandoned by families who can’t take care of them because of a lack of money. Some run away to escape abuse or unhappy homes. Some are lost, mostly when families travel, according to research by Childline, a 24-hour national helpline for children in distress.

Rakesh Senger, who helps rescue and rehabilitate missing children through the NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan, estimates only 50% of missing children are reported to the NCRB.

One of the main reasons for the high number of missing children is that the law on missing children in India is inadequate, say experts.

There is no legal definition of a missing child, and each state follows its own rules, says Mr. Senger.

Kidnapping is by far the highest reported crime against children. There were a total of 33,098 crimes reported against kids in 2011, up 24% from 2010, according to a reportissued in September by the social statistics division of the Indian government.

In 2011, 15,284 cases of kidnapping were reported; a 43% increase from 2010.  These numbers include kidnapping children for exporting to other countries, abducting kids for ransom or forcing them to beg.

Separately, according to the report, 3,517 incidents of child trafficking were recorded in 2011. This includes buying and selling of girls for prostitution, child marriage and trafficking children for the illegal transplantation of organs.

The report also states that India has the largest number of child laborers under the age of 14 in the world.  Even though Indian law prohibits children below the age of 14 from working, 12.66 million children work as child laborers, according to the data.

Of those, 21% of these children are employed in cigarette and bidi factories, 17% in construction and 15% as domestic workers. Others work as rag pickers, agricultural workers and in industries like fireworks and carpet weaving.

“Nearly 85% of child laborers in India are hard-to-reach, invisible and excluded, as they work largely in the unorganized sector,” the government report states. Also, many missing children are never brought to the notice of the police, especially those in the commercial sex trade, say experts.

Part of the reason India has so many missing children, experts say, is how their cases are treated by law-enforcement authorities.

The police in India, barring a few states, do not register first information reports – the first step to an investigation — for missing children. So no formal case is even filed. They only make an entry into the list of missing persons at the police station where the child is reported missing so in-depth investigations are rare.

In Mumbai, for instance, a photo of the missing child is sent to police stations all over the city and police keep a lookout. But, there is no investigation of a crime unless the person who reports the child missing asks the police to file a case of kidnapping.

In Delhi, the law is slightly more robust: After 24 hours, if a child is not found, a case of kidnapping has to be filed by the police. This change came after a series of murders in Noida, a Delhi suburb, including those of eight children.

The police in some regions have also begun a database for missing children, likezipnet.in.

But experts say it isn’t enough.

There is a “lack of inter-state cooperation” and a need for an “integrated country-wide database” for missing children, says Mr. Senger.

If a child is reported lost in one state but has been trafficked to another state, there is no mechanism to ensure that the child will be searched for countrywide, he explains.

Follow India Real Time on Twitter @indiarealtime.

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Missing teens may be Myrtle Beach bound:

MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) - Two North Carolina teens who have been missing since Friday may be headed to Myrtle Beach and police are asking for help finding the duo.
wistv.com - Columbia, South Carolina |

Missing teens from NC

Missing teens

The Catawba County Sheriff's Office confirms it is looking for two high school students, and both families are extremely worried about their well being.

Jake Ziegler, 18, and Ray Pierce, 17, attend Bandys High School. Ziegler's sister, Jackie, says the two friends were headed to Myrtle Beach and the last phone call from the pair came in around 3 a.m. Saturday from the Rock Hill area. Jackie says she hopes police will take her case seriously, because it is unlike her younger brother, Jake to not contact her.

"I understand the statistics and I understand that but this is not my brother. And there's no chance in hell he would go this far without contacting me," Jackie Ziegler said, "there is no activity on their cell phones, on their debit cards. We don't believe they have any cash with them. They have one Shell card for gas and they can use it for food. However, I can't trace it until Monday morning."

Myrtle Beach Police Captain David Knipes said the city is a magnet for runaway teens and people looking for a hide-out.  But, he added, missing juveniles does not go unnoticed. Knipes said a special group of officers make up a juvenile department, specializing in locating missing persons.

"They'll take the flyers and literally canvas door to door and ocean boulevard, hand out the flyers to the different hotels and see if somebody might have seen these people to give them that extra little help," Knipes said, "they're just an anonymous face. With Myrtle Beach having such a high transient population with people coming in for a weekend or a week at a time there's different faces all the time so they can just blend in a lot easier."

Dozens of family and friends drove down I-77 to Columbia Monday morning to see if they could locate the car the teens were driving. Ziegler says they are looking for a 2006 Green Pontiac G-6 with NC plates BBD-8844. Ziegler's dad drove to Myrtle Beach and rented a helicopter to survey the area and surrounding areas. As of Monday evening, their search left them empty-handed.

On Monday, both boys' families publicly urged them to go home.

"You are not in trouble. Our hearts are broken. I will not stop at anything until he is home. And I mean it. If he doesn't want us to find him, I'm gonna find him. We're waiting here with open arms and we're gonna do whatever it takes because that's what family does and that's what family's for," Jackie Ziegler said.

"You have two sisters. You have a family that loves you, that's concerned, that wants you home safe. Please come home if you're listening to this," Pierce's mother Wendy Pierce said.

If you see the teens, or the vehicle they are reportedly driving, please call Myrtle Beach Police at 843-918-1300.

Copyright 2012 WMBF News. All rights reserved.

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Preventing teen prostitution a focus of convention:

Preventing teen prostitution a focus of convention:

WICHITA, Kansas -- Hundreds of police, prosecutors, and social workers are looking for ways to prevent teens from being prostituted by pimps at a conference at Century II.

The annual Governor's Conference for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect runs through Wednesday.

• Video

• Preventing teen prostitution a focus of convention

One of the topics they're focusing on this year is human trafficking.

Runaway teenage girls can often find themselves forced into a life of drugs and prostitution.

"Anytime we have one child involved in this is way too many," said Lt. Jeff Weible, a detective who works for the exploited and missing children's unit of the Wichitapolice.

In 2010 under Steve Six, the state Attorney General's office created an advisory board to study the issue with the goal of bringing authorities and social workers together to get teens the help they need.

"They have housing needs, they have mental and emotional health needs, there's also a case that needs to be prosecuted and as a social worker, I can't do all that," said Dr. Karen Countryman-Roswurn.

Experts say girls coming from homes broken by domestic abuse are more likely to be victims of teen trafficking. The majority of girls used by pimps are runaways.

With more training and a better understanding of the warning signs, authorities hope to do more to prevent trafficking.

More than 600 people are expected to attend the three-day conference at Century II.

Among the topics featured at the conference are foster care, internet safety, and law enforcement protocol.

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FBI - New Cyber Safety Website for Teachers, Students:

The FBI SOS site highlights cyber security through games, videos, and other interactive features.

Safe Online Surfing
New Cyber Safety Website for Teachers, Students

10/15/12

With school back in session, one topic that’s on many class curriculums around the nation is cyber safety. After all, it’s a hyper-connected world—with texting, social networking, e-mail, online gaming, chat, music downloading, web surfing, and other forms of wired and wireless communication now a regular part of children’s lives.

The FBI has a new program that can help. Today, as part of its longstanding crime prevention and public outreach efforts, the FBI is announcing a free web-based initiative designed to help teachers educate students about cyber safety.

	SOS Topics After entering the FBI-SOS website, students “travel” to their grade-specific island, which includes either seven or eight learning portals to visit. These areas address topics such as the protection of personal information, password strength, cell phone safety, social networking, and online gaming safety. The videos also include real-life stories of kids who have faced cyber bullies and online predators. Visit SOS.

It’s called the FBI-SOS (Safe Online Surfing) Internet Challenge—and it was developed with the assistance of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and with the input of teachers and schools.

FBI-SOS is available through a newly revamped website at https://sos.fbi.gov. The site features six grade-specific “islands”—for third- through eighth-grade students—highlighting various aspects of cyber security through games, videos, and other interactive features. Each island has either seven or eight areas to explore—with a specific cyber safety lesson—and its own central character and visual theme. For example, fourth grade features Ice Island, complete with falling snow and penguins.

To encourage participation and enhance learning, FBI-SOS includes both testing for students and competition among schools. Each grade level has its own exam, which can only be taken after teachers have signed up their respective classes and all activities on the island have been completed by each student. And once all the exams for a class are graded (done electronically by the FBI), schools appear on a leader board in three categories based on the number of total participants. During each rating period, top scoring schools in each category nationwide are awarded an FBI-SOS trophy and, when possible, receive a visit from a local FBI agent. All public, private, and home schools are eligible to participate.

For teachers and schools, FBI-SOS provides virtually everything they need to teach good cyber citizenship:

• A free, ready-made curriculum that meets state and federal Internet safety mandates (see sidebar for topics covered);
• Age-appropriate content for each of the six grade levels;
• A printable teacher’s guide that spells out how teachers can sign up their classes and use the site; and
• Detailed rules and instructions for students.

	Child ID App The Safe Online Surfing (SOS) website is the second tool the FBI has launched over the past year to help protect kids. The other—the FBI Child ID app—provides an easy way for parents to use their smartphones to store pictures and information on their kids in case they go missing. Learn More

Can anyone visit the website? Absolutely. Kids of all ages—and even adults—can explore the site, play the games, watch the videos, and learn all about cyber safety. However, the exam can only be taken by third- to eighth-grade students whose classes have been registered by their teachers.

An important note: the FBI is not collecting student names, ages, or other identifying information through the website. Students are identified only by number when taking the exams; their teachers alone know which number matches which student. And teachers only need to provide their name, school, and e-mail address when signing up. The e-mail address is needed to verify the teacher’s identity for registration purposes.

“FBI-SOS is a fun, free, and effective way to teach kids how to use the Internet safely and responsibly,” says Scott McMillion, head of the unit that manages the program in the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “We encourage teachers to check out the site and sign up their classes during the school year.”

Visit the site at https://sos.fbi.gov.

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Missing girls will be topic at child trafficking event:

Missing girls will be topic at child trafficking event

 By JEFF REINITZ, jeff.reinitz@wcfcourier.com

DES MOINES, Iowa --- The parents of Elizabeth Collins will speak at a Des Moines event that wraps child abductions with underground pornography networks and drug cartels.

Drew and Heather Collins of Evansdale are scheduled to appear at the 10th Preventing Abuse Conference at the Embassy Suites on Friday, said Tony Nassif, president of Cedars Cultural and Educational Foundation of Toluca Lake, Calif., who is organizing the conference.

Tickets are $59 in advance; lunch is included.

"It's going to be an interview situation where we will just talk about the background and what's been happening now, and get some insights from them on what people can do, if anything, to help protect other kids," Nassif said.

Elizabeth and her cousin Lyric Cook-Morrissey were last seen riding their bikes in Evansdale the afternoon of July 13. Their bikes and a purse were later found behind Meyers Lake.

Other speakers include officials with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an alleged former CIA operative involved in rescues and Noreen Gosch, mother of 1982 West Des Moines kidnapping victim Johnny Gosch. Topics will include the role of the faith-based community.

Fliers for the event highlight experts on human trafficking and drug smuggling cartels, but Nassif said he isn't claiming that the disappearance of Elizabeth and Lyric are related to those activities.

"I caution everybody, don't come to any conclusions, because there is a myriad of things that could be happening, and to focus one would negate the others," Nassif said. "I just say keep your powder dry and be aware and be open to any eventuality."

Nassif, a Cedar Rapids native, had followed the story of Johnny Gosch's abduction in the 1980s. He said became interested in human trafficking in the 1990s while living in California and writing a fictional screenplay about the occult and pedophile networks. He got involved with the Los Angeles Task Force on Human Trafficking.

"I ended up having an experience with Christ where he revealed to me that there were millions of victims. I didn't know that. About two weeks later, I come to find out the statistics were nearly 30 million trafficking victims worldwide," he said.

He later found Noreen Gosch's book while on a trip back to Iowa. In "Why Johnny Can't Come Home," Noreen Gosch wrote about kidnap-to-order rings and auctions of children.

"When I read it, I said my gosh, she's writing about the things I'm just discovering. She discovered human trafficking 25 years before it had a name, and she was saying things back then that people thought were a little far fetched. But in actuality, she was right on target because I confirmed what she was saying all along, that there's organized pedophile networks, not just lone pedophile abductors," Nassif said.

For the past seven years, Nassif has been organizing Preventing Abuse conferences, which he said are a way for organizations and people to network and to spread awareness.

He said the missing cousins were the catalyst to bring the discussion to Des Moines.

Information about Friday's conference may be obtained at www.preventingabuse.org or (323) 851-3872.

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SJPD Partners with National Group to Find Missing Children:

St. Joseph Police Dept.

(ST. JOSEPH, Mo.) The St. Joseph Police Department is working to get the upper hand when it comes to finding missing children.

Missing children reports are nothing new, but the department wants to improve on how they handle the calls.

Dispatchers say it gets hectic, especially when someone is reporting a missing child.

"They're hysterical. All they want is somebody there, and they're screaming, and they're panicked, and they're not listening, and it's very difficult to even get 'What's your child's name? How old are they? What do they look like? How long have they been gone?'" says Jada Thomas, of the communications center.

The communications department knows how to handle all types of calls, but striving to be the best, they've volunteered to partner with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

"It puts you into a position to adjust your policies and your procedures and your call taking techniques, so you're in line with the best practices that have been proven across the country," says Capt.Jeff Wilson, St. Joseph Police Department.

With the NCMEC, the department has received new training. When responders take a call, it starts with keeping a parent calm, and assessing the situation.

This is nothing new for dispatchers, but small policy changes will make a big difference when time is of the essence.

"Where are you? How old is this child? What does this child look like? Where were they last seen? If there's suspect information, we need that information quickly," says Thomas.

"The operator is now trained to recognize the situation that they're dealing with, and maybe rule out some questions that take out valuable time and go straight to the other ones," Wilson says.

The new partnership is also changing the way the center looks at runaways.

"It may not be an abduction situation, but that's still a child that we don't know where they are, so immensely important that we follow these best practices even in situations may have left on their own," Thomas says.

Now after taking a missing child report, responders are being graded.

"In any type of mission that you perform, it's always important to do an after actions review, and go over the things that went right and the things that went wrong, and try to improve yourself," Wilson says.

The communications center takes about 20 calls a month related to missing children or runaways. They say calling right away is key. They can always cancel if needed.

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Are the Gospels Reliable?

Are the Gospels Reliable?

the ESV Study Bible

In comparison with the remaining manuscripts of any other ancient Greek or Latin literature, the NT suffers from an embarrassment of riches. It is almost incomprehensible to think about the disparity. When it comes to quantity of copies, the NT has no peer. More than 5,700 Greek NT manuscripts are still in existence, ranging in date from the early second century to the sixteenth century. To be sure, the earliest ones (i.e., through the 3rd century) are all fragmentary, but they cover a substantial amount of the NT. And Greek manuscripts do not tell the whole story. The NT was translated early on into a variety of languages, including Latin, Coptic, Syriac, Armenian, Georgian, Gothic, and Arabic. All told, there are between 20,000 and 25,000 handwritten copies of the NT in various languages. Yet if all of these were destroyed, the NT text could be reproduced almost in its entirety by quotations of it in sermons, tracts, and commentaries written by ancient teachers of the church (known as church fathers or Patristic writers). To date, over a million quotations from the NT by the church fathers have been cataloged.

How does this compare with the average classical author? The copies of the average ancient Greek or Latin author's writings number fewer than 20 manuscripts! Thus, the NT has well over 1,000 times as many manuscripts as the works of the average classical author.

When it comes to the temporal distance of the earliest copies of the NT from the original, NT textual critics again enjoy an abundance of materials. From 10 to 15 NT manuscripts were written within the first 100 years of the completion of the NT. To be sure, they are all fragmentary, but some of them are fairly sizable fragments, covering large portions of the Gospels or Paul's letters, for example. Within two centuries, the numbers increase to at least four dozen manuscripts. Of manuscripts produced before A.D. 400, an astounding 99 still exist—including the oldest complete NT, Codex Sinaiticus.

The gap, then, between the originals and the early manuscripts is relatively slim. By comparison, the average classical author has no copies for more than half a millennium.

Taken from the ESV Study Bible copyright ©(2008). Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, Il 60187, www.crossway.org.

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FBI Stories - North to Alaska:

In many cases, getting to remote Alaskan villages and towns requires a plane or a boat.

North to Alaska
Part 1: Smallest FBI Office Takes on Big Job

10/12/2012

The FBI recently investigated a white powder letter incident in Alaska with the help of a partner law enforcement agency. “It took our partners two days to get to the place where the white powder letter was,” said Mary Frances Rook, special agent in charge of our Anchorage Field Office, “because they had to take a ferry and a plane and an all-terrain vehicle to get to the school where the letter had been sent.”

Welcome to the Anchorage Division—the FBI’s smallest field office—whose agents are responsible for covering the most territory of any office in the Bureau. That’s an area of more than 600,000 square miles, twice the size of Texas and packed with natural beauty and hard-to-reach places.

	An Opportunity for New Agents Of the FBI’s 56 field offices, Anchorage has the fewest personnel—but that turns out to be an opportunity for new agents assigned there fresh out of the FBI Academy. “It’s a huge benefit for a first-office agent to come to a place like Anchorage because you get to do so many things,” said Special Agent in Charge Mary Frances Rook. “You aren’t pigeonholed here. Some of our biggest cases have been made by first-office agents. That’s not an experience you are going to find in a larger office because those cases usually go to the more senior agents,” she explained. “Here everybody has the opportunity to develop a case and run with it and be successful.” Rick Sutherland, a former North Carolina police officer, joined the FBI in 2009 and his first office was Fairbanks, in our three-man resident agency. Shortly after his arrival, he was assigned a domestic terrorism case that recently ended with the subject’s lengthy trial and conviction. “Getting this case and this kind of experience so early in my FBI career was a great opportunity,” Sutherland said, “and it might not have happened had I been sent to a large office.”

Although the Anchorage Division investigates the same types of violent crime, public corruption, and national security matters as FBI offices in the Lower 48, “there is so much that is different here,” said Rook—and she’s not just referring to the bears and moose occasionally spotted on downtown Anchorage streets.

“If you’re in Anchorage, there are roads to Fairbanks and to the Kenai Peninsula, but other than that there are no roads,” Rook said. Getting to remote villages and towns requires a plane or a boat. Combine the geographical difficulties with extreme weather and one begins to understand how the 49th state can pose considerable challenges for the agents and support staff in Anchorage and our satellite locations in Fairbanks and Juneau.

Few FBI offices require snowmobiles to respond to crime scenes, but Anchorage keeps two on hand. The harsh Alaskan winters, where temperatures can plummet to more than 50 degrees below zero and the sun rises above the horizon for only a few hours each day, can make being outdoors seem almost otherworldly.

“It can be a challenging place to work,” Rook acknowledged. “But the flip side is that everybody knows it. So everybody works together. We work great with each other and with our local and federal law enforcement partners. Everybody’s got each other’s back, because you just can’t survive up here alone.”

Not surprisingly, it takes a certain kind of person to work for the FBI in Alaska. “The most successful Bureau people here are the ones who come with an idea that this is going to be a great adventure,” said Rook, whose assignment in Anchorage began in January 2011.

Special Agent Catherine Ruiz, who transferred to Anchorage with her husband last year from Chicago, agreed. “Every few days you will be driving home and you look up at the snowcapped mountains and say, ‘Wow, this is a beautiful place.’ ”

Bureau personnel who come to Alaska tend to be multi-talented as well. “We don’t have a lot of resources,” Rook said, “so everyone has to do a little bit of everything.” One of the office’s three pilots, for example, is also the polygraph examiner and a full-time counterintelligence agent. “That’s not unusual,” Rook noted.

“I originally thought I would come to Alaska for a few years,” said Special Agent Eric Gonzalez. That was 15 years ago. Gonzalez liked the place and the people—and so did his family. He added, “Most of the Bureau folks I know who worked here and left wished they would have stayed.”

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DOJ Policy on Tribal Member Use of Eagle Feathers:

Department of Justice

Office of Public Affairs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, October 12, 2012

Justice Department Announces Policy on Tribal Member Use of Eagle Feathers

The Department of Justice announced today a policy addressing the ability of members of federally recognized Indian tribes to possess or use eagle feathers, an issue of great cultural significance to many tribes and their members. Attorney General Eric Holder signed the new policy after extensive department consultation with tribal leaders and tribal groups. The policy covers all federally protected birds, bird feathers and bird parts.

Federal wildlife laws such as the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act generally criminalize the killing of eagles and other migratory birds and the possession or commercialization of the feathers and other parts of such birds. These important laws are enforced by the Department of Justice and the Department of the Interior and help ensure that eagle and other bird populations remain healthy and sustainable.

At the same time, the Department of Justice recognizes that eagles play a unique and important role in the religious and cultural life of many Indian tribes. Many Indian tribes and tribal members have historically used, and today continue to use federally protected birds, bird feathers or other bird parts for their tribal cultural and religious expression.

“This policy will help ensure a consistent and uniform approach across the nation to protecting and preserving eagles, and to honoring their cultural and spiritual significance to American Indians,” said Attorney General Holder.  “The Department of Justice is committed to striking the right balance in enforcing our nation’s wildlife laws by respecting the cultural and religious practices of federally recognized Indian tribes with whom the United States shares a unique government-to-government relationship.”

 The department is issuing this policy to address the concerns of tribal members who are unsure of how they may be affected by federal wildlife law enforcement efforts, and because of a concern that this uncertainty may hinder or inhibit tribal religious and cultural practices. The department first announced it was considering formalizing a policy on eagle feathers in October 2011 and sought tribal input at that time. The department held formal consultations with tribal leaders in June, July and August 2012.

“From time immemorial, many Native Americans have viewed eagle feathers and other bird parts as sacred elements of their religious and cultural traditions,” said Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.   “The Department of Justice has taken a major step forward by establishing a consistent and transparent policy to guide federal enforcement of the nation’s wildlife laws in a manner that respects the cultural and religious practices of federally recognized Indian tribes and their members.”

“The Justice Department’s policy balances the needs of the federally recognized tribes and their members to be able to obtain, possess and use eagle feathers for their religious and cultural practices with the need to protect and preserve these magnificent birds,” said Donald E. “Del” Laverdure, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs. “Its reasoned approach reflects a greater understanding and respect for cultural beliefs and spiritual practices of Indian people while also providing much-needed clarity for those responsible for enforcing federal migratory bird protection laws.”

“This policy helps to clarify how federal law enforcement goes about protecting these special birds and also should reassure federally recognized tribal members that they do not have to fear prosecution for possessing or using eagle feathers for their religious and cultural purposes,” said Brendan V. Johnson, U.S. Attorney for the District of South Dakota and the Chairman of the Native American Issues Subcommittee of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee. 

“Eagles and other native migratory bird species are a vital part of our nation’s natural heritage, and we remain dedicated to providing every American with the opportunity to experience them in the wild,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe. “This new policy honors the past while looking to the future, contributing to the preservation of these species and ensuring that tribal members can continue their religious and cultural practices for generations to come.”

The policy provides that, consistent with the Department of Justice’s traditional exercise of its discretion, a member of a federally recognized tribe engaged only in the following types of conduct will not be subject to prosecution:

·          Possessing, using, wearing or carrying federally protected birds, bird feathers or other bird parts (federally protected bird parts);

·          Traveling domestically with federally protected bird parts or, if tribal members obtain and comply with necessary permits, traveling internationally with such items;

·          Picking up naturally molted or fallen feathers found in the wild, without molesting or disturbing federally protected birds or their nests;

·          Giving or loaning federally protected bird parts to other members of federally recognized tribes, without compensation of any kind;

·          Exchanging federally protected bird parts for federally protected bird parts with other members of federally recognized tribes, without compensation of any kind;

·          Providing the feathers or other parts of federally protected birds to craftspersons who are members of federally recognized tribes to be fashioned into objects for eventual use in tribal religious or cultural activities.

The Department of Justice will continue to prosecute tribal members and non-members alike for violating federal laws that prohibit the killing of eagles and other migratory birds or the buying or selling of the feathers or other parts of such birds.

The policy expands upon longstanding Department of Justice practice and Department of the Interior policy. It was developed in close coordination with the Department of the Interior. The Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) and United States Attorneys’ Offices work closely with the Department of the Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Indian Affairs on enforcement of federal laws protecting birds.

The view the policy and a fact sheet on the policy, visit: www.justice.gov/tribal

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