The Colorado Department of Public Safety announced Wednesday that Arron Julian has been hired as the director of the newly formed Office of Liaison for Missing or Murdered Indigenous Relatives within the Division of Criminal Justice.
His first day was Nov. 21, 2022.
The office, one of more than a dozen new offices and agencies added to state government by the General Assembly and the Polis administration in the past three years, was established through Senate Bill 22-150.
While the office is required by law to recommend legislative or agency actions regarding missing or murdered indigenous relatives, the law does not require the office to report on its activities through the legislature's governmental oversight system, known as the annual SMART Act hearings that begin in January.
Julian's annual salary is $97,500. The office's funding, according to the fiscal analysis, is $619,889, including $540,000 in general funds, and is expected to hire 4.5 full-time equivalent employees in the 2022-23 budget year.
COVER STORY | Unsustainable? Colorado's government keeps growing
The Colorado Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Task Force estimates that between 1977 and April 2022, there were at least 65 cases of missing or unsolved murders of indigenous peoples. More than one-third were reported in the last six years.
The new director will serve as a liaison to the tribal nations and indigenous communities in Colorado on issues related to missing or murdered Indigenous relatives, according to a news release from CDPS.
The office will work with several partner agencies, including the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs; federally recognized tribes; state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and other indigenous-led organizations.
“We recognize how critical the leadership of this brand new office will be, and we wanted to find someone with deep connections with Indigenous communities as well as extensive experience with law enforcement, criminal justice, fostering collaboration, and leading teams. With help from our stakeholder community, we believe that we have found that person in Arron Julian,” said CDPS Executive Director Stan Hilkey. “Arron joins the department with tremendous credentials and a list of positive recommendations that are too many to list.”
The news release said Julian has over 36 years of experience in law enforcement, including as chief of police for the Bishop Paiute Tribe.
He is a member of the Jicarilla Apache Tribe in Northern New Mexico and served in a leadership role for the Jicarilla Apache Tribal Nation. He was the Sexual Assault Response Team Coordinator for the San Carlos Apache Healthcare Corporation, where he helped develop policies and procedures for evidence collection and enhancing service delivery to reduce the impact on sexual assault victims when they presented at the hospital.
He also served as operations manager for the US Embassy Security Force in Baghdad as a civilian contractor with the State Department. His leadership experience includes overseeing a security force of some 6,000 members from five different countries.
“Arron’s reputation is as one who can bring law enforcement and community from Tribal, county, state, and federal agencies together around a common purpose,” said DCJ Director Joe Thome. “I’m confident that Arron's passion for justice on behalf of Indigenous populations and his experience working to bring closure to MMIR cases will drive a powerful and positive start to this new program."