Navajo officials move toward tribal Amber Alert system

Navajo Nation leaders are in talks with the U.S. government to establish an emergency alert system across the 27,000-square-mile reservation.

The Farmington Daily Times reports (http://bit.ly/2c5wbNl ) that Coordinator Harlan Cleveland says tribal government officials and the U.S. Department of Justice are considering establishing the Integrated Public Alert & Warning System on tribal land.

The program is a federal alert system created in 2006 in response to Hurricane Katrina.

Cleveland says the Navajo Nation would have to sign an agreement with the DOJ before the federal system could be implemented.

The talks come after residents raised concerns about the Amber Alert system after the May 2 disappearance of an 11-year-old girl and her 9-year-old brother. The girl was found dead the next day. The boy returned to his family.