Obstacles hinder the effectiveness of Oklahoma’s new Kasey Alert system for missing adults

OKLAHOMA CITY (OKH) — The Kasey Alert System notifies Oklahoma residents of missing persons between the ages of 18 and 59, helping to locate missing persons who have been overlooked.

However, some people face obstacles when it comes to sending an alert. Attorneys told Fox 25 that sending a Kasey alert requires filing a police report. However, some people have trouble filing these reports and are unable to send a Kasey alert to raise awareness of the missing person.

The Kasey Alert System went into effect in November and alerts Oklahoma residents to missing at-risk individuals ages 18 to 59.

“We have an alert system for missing minor children and we have an alert system for our missing elderly, but what we are really missing is the middle class of people,” said Kayla Woody, prevention specialist at the CPN (Citizen Potawatomi Nation) House of Hope.

The system is named after 29-year-old Cherokee citizen Kasey Russell, who disappeared in 2016. Russell is just one of many missing and murdered Native Americans in Oklahoma.

“Currently, there are over 86 missing Native Americans in the state of Oklahoma, according to our NamUs system,” Woody said. “This is a huge problem, not just in Oklahoma, but across the country.”

The Kasey Alert System hopes to reduce the number of missing people in the state through education, but supporters say there are many obstacles that prevent the system from working as intended.

“In order for someone on this list to send out an alert, a report has to be filed with the police,” Woody said. “You know, the majority of people obviously don’t trust law enforcement, so they’re not going to file a report. There are people who go to the police and try to file a report, and they get rejected for various reasons.”

Advocates also say the alerts are not as accessible as they should be.

“I personally haven’t received any of these missing persons reports on my phone,” Woody said. “And there’s no real easy way to look up those reports and find out who is currently missing.”

Because the Kasey Alert system is relatively new in the state, supporters hope the problems some people are facing can be resolved soon.