Tribe gives law enforcement plan to BIA

By Scott Aust, Journal staff | Saturday, September 06, 2008

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During a meeting of the judiciary committee on Friday, the Oglala Sioux Tribe presented Bureau of Indian Affairs officials a three-part plan for maintaining public safety on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Nearly 30 police officers resigned or were relieved of duty after a scuffle that broke out between some members of the tribe's executive board and its police department at an Aug. 12 meeting. In the wake of those staffing shortages, the BIA sent 25 officers from throughout the country to supplement the remaining tribal police force and added another 10 officers this week.

Pat Ragsdale, director of the BIA's Office of Justice Services, said he will review the proposal and continue to work with the tribe.

"I told them we will continue to provide assistance up here for at least another 30 days and see where they are. I didn't make any commitment about their proposal one way or another," Ragsdale said. "We will sustain what we're doing and continue to try to work with the existing tribal police to make sure this reservation's covered."

Ron Duke, OST judiciary chairman, said the tribes' proposal includes three phases to accomplish within the next 20 weeks.

Phase I is geared toward completing an internal affairs review of the actions of officers involved in the Aug. 12 incident, determining what violations occurred and imposing disciplinary action by next Thursday, and determining law enforcement coverage needs by Sunday, Sept. 14.

In Phase II, the tribe is asking the BIA to release additional money to fund 11 more command and supervisory personnel.

During fiscal year 2008, the BIA provided $9,456,365 to fund all justice-related programs on the Pine Ridge reservation, which included $3,335,726 for law enforcement services under a contract with the tribe. That money pays for the Department of Public Safety expenses, which includes police officer salaries, dispatch services, 911 services and costs associated with providing police services. The $3.3 million includes a special appropriation of about $475,000 for additional officers in 2008, an appropriation Duke said was supposed to have been released in 2006.

Duke said, if approved, the additional officers would increase the OST police force to about 50 officers and allow staffing in all nine districts on the reservation. The proposal also calls for implementing a training program, initiating an aggressive recruitment program and instituting proactive policing strategies.

"The concept is community policing and getting our officers back into our districts and communities to mingle with our citizens," Duke said.

Duke said the tribe's DOJ grants currently supplement the BIA's law enforcement responsibility.

The tribe's goals in Phase III are to go after additional DOJ funds to supplement vehicles and equipment if the BIA will fund at least 50 officers through the contract. In addition, the tribe proposes implementing the community policing strategy and establishing performance, improvement and monitoring standards.

"I think it's a good plan. The tribe's pretty supportive of it," Duke said. "We definitely are looking at retaining our tribal law enforcement program. I think we'll eventually get this back up and running in a good way. It takes a little time."

Meanwhile, Ragsdale said BIA is conducting an administrative review of the department's polices and procedures and a standards review. The review will also involve checking complaints of excessive force and will check personnel records. Once complete, the review will be included in a report to the tribe.

Native American tribes have the option under federal law to allow the BIA to manage all public safety services on their reservations, or they can contract with the BIA to operate their own police departments. In South Dakota, the Oglala Sioux and Rosebud Sioux tribes have tribally-run police departments. Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has a BIA-run police department.

Contact Scott Aust at 394-8415 or scott.aust@rapidcityjournal.com