When a 22-year-old Juneau white man with autism went missing last week and was found in less than 24 hours, questions arose from family and friends of a missing Alaska Native man \u2014 who is the same exact age \u2014 about police priorities in Native and non-Native cases.<\/p>\n
\u201c(An officer) was like, \u2018Your brother was highly intoxicated and he runs with a crowd that\u2019s transient,\u2019\u201d Liddie-Marie Armstrong, 34, told the Empire in an interview Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Armstrong is Christopher Orcutt\u2019s sister and lives in Washington state, where Orcutt is from. She said her brother is not homeless or a transient as a public information release<\/a> from the Juneau Police Department states outright. Instead, she said her brother has a home in Washington, works as a cook at different restaurants and only traveled to Juneau to visit family and friends because it\u2019s where he spent most of his youth.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know if it\u2019s because they thought he was homeless \u2014 they just thought he didn\u2019t matter,\u201d Armstrong said by phone.<\/p>\n JPD Lt. Kris Sell said initial contact with the family may have not gone perfectly and she understands that family\u2019s defensive attitude about police work. However, Sell said finding Orcutt is a priority for her and the police department.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, three weeks after Orcutt\u2019s disappearance on Aug. 25 when he left a party in downtown Juneau, two JPD police officers guided four dog teams from Southeast Alaska Dogs Organized for Ground Search (SEADOGS) over the Thane Campground area, Sell said. That\u2019s where police were told Orcutt had been spending his nights while in Juneau. The search came up empty.<\/p>\n \u201cWe searched our best guess today,\u201d Sell said in an interview Tuesday. \u201cOn one hand, we\u2019re glad we didn\u2019t find him because that would suggest he was deceased. That was our worst fear.\u201d<\/p>\n Sell said the police did not publicly talk about the search for Orcutt on Tuesday or solicit the public\u2019s help because they wanted to keep the area as clear as possible for the SEADOGS canines to work.<\/p>\n She and JPD Chief Bryce Johnson also discussed the department\u2019s search efforts for Orcutt at Tuesday\u2019s Coffee with a Cop session hosted by the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. Johnson said he asked Sell to come give a briefing on the search to put to bed the idea circulating on social media that the department cares more about missing people cases when the person who\u2019s missing is white.<\/p>\n Last week, when Ryan Harvey went missing near the University of Alaska Southeast, the department had a mobile command center set-up by the campus with teams of searchers working through the night to find the man. Police called him a \u201cvulnerable\u201d missing person because of his autism. He was found the next day, less than 24 hours after going missing, by hikers who had heard about the search and seen Harvey\u2019s picture<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cYou were able to find the Autistic guy in 24-hours. Over two weeks later, and you don\u2019t have any leads on the whereabouts of my very good friend??\u201d reads one social media post by Carriah Marie Smith on JPD\u2019s Facebook page.<\/p>\n \u201cMessed up you guys go searching asap for the other guy this guy was missing before the other one I have not seen any Search party going up yet,\u201d another commenter chimed in on the same thread.<\/p>\n [Police search for missing man, last seen leaving downtown party<\/a>]<\/p>\n Police Chief Johnson said the difference in those two searches had to do with the available information police had to aid their search \u2014 not the race of the missing.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we need to do a better job at explaining those differences, because on its face, you got one kid who\u2019s a white kid and one kid who\u2019s Alaska Native. Why are you looking for one and not looking for the other? It\u2019s a natural thing to wonder,\u201d Johnson said during a table discussion at the Coffee with a Cop event, with Central Council President Richard Peterson sitting to his left.<\/p>\n Harvey was reported missing to police immediately; Orcutt was reported missing to police five days after he was last seen. Harvey, who has autism, has a stricter schedule that his family is aware of, whereas Orcutt is traveling alone and didn\u2019t have a set schedule to follow. In Harvey\u2019s case, police knew where to begin their search because he had just been seen a few hours ago at the university library; in Orcutt\u2019s case, the lead was no longer hot.<\/p>\n After the Coffee with a Cop, Peterson said that he was glad Sell and Johnson were on hand to help the community understand how police work differs in certain missing person\u2019s cases because it\u2019s not common knowledge and it can lead to some false impressions.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s sort of that knee-jerk reaction,\u201d Peterson said in an interview. \u201cYou can\u2019t help but wonder. You don\u2019t know. There\u2019s this non-Native and, oh, the whole world responds. … But it totally made sense.\u201d<\/p>\n JPD\u2019s post about Harvey\u2019s disappearance was shared more than 1,000 times. Orcutt\u2019s information has been shared 69 times.<\/p>\n Regardless of what may appear to be the public\u2019s interest, Sell said the department is dedicated to finding Orcutt. She also said she understands the family\u2019s frustration with how the search has gone so far.<\/p>\n \u201cThese familes are scared and we don\u2019t take it personally,\u201d Sell said, adding that no one at the department meant any disrespect by describing Orcutt as a homeless man or as someone who was seen intoxicated.<\/p>\n With the search at the Thane Campground over, Sell said there isn\u2019t another place in mind for the department to search. Police are waiting for another clue from the public about where Orcutt may be, and keeping their eyes open for him in the meantime.<\/p>\n \u201cAt this point we need some sort of an indicator. … Where would he have gone?\u201d Sell said.<\/p>\n Armstrong said it\u2019s been hard for her and her family to be so far from where her brother might be, unable to assist in the search. Watching her ill mother cry over the youngest child has been the hardest part, she said.<\/p>\n To help the family travel to Juneau, Armstrong started a GoFundMe account, www.gofundme.com\/2nkffs7d. She estimates her family will need upwards of $5,000 to come to Juneau. As of Tuesday, only $100 in donations had been made to the account.<\/p>\n Orcutt is described by police as being a 5\u201911\u201d tall Alaska Native man, weighing approximately 180 pounds. He was last seen wearing an orange-red button up shirt with grey jeans. Anyone with knowledge of his whereabouts can contact JPD at 586-0600.<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n Read more news:<\/p>\n Juneau Housing First project gets more money, but still in hole<\/a><\/p>\n