The president of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe said Friday that federal legislation to beef up law enforcement on Native American reservations could help cut crime rates, reduce suicides and return an essential sense of safety to people who now live in fear.

President Rodney Bordeaux said the tribal police force on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation has 13 to 14 officers. With the expanse of land and isolated communities to cover - and ongoing crimes related to alcohol, illegal drugs and gangs - the reservation might need as many as 60 officers to truly regain control, he said.

"We have many people who feel unsafe, even in their homes," Bordeaux said. "We need to combat that and cut down on drug dealers and gang situations so that people feel safe."

An amendment co-authored by Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., was added to federal legislation approved Thursday that would reauthorize funding for a global war on AIDS and other deadly diseases. The amendment authorizes $1 billion for water projects on reservations nationwide over five years, as well as $750 million for law enforcement and $250 million for health care to benefit Native Americans.

A related bill, the Tribal Law Enforcement Act of 2008, was introduced this week, co-sponsored by Thune, Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., Senate Indian Affairs Committee Chairman Byron Dorgan of North Dakota and others.

On Wednesday, Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, D-S.D., introduced similar legislation in the U.S. House, also with co-sponsors from both parties.

Bordeaux said it was especially important that both the House and Senate were taking a bipartisan approach to an issue of life-and-death importance on Native American reservations. Bordeaux said Thune, Johnson and Herseth Sandlin all deserve credit for making reservation law enforcement a priority.

"It doesn't matter which party you're from, as long as the members represent us fairly," he said. "I'm really impressed with Sen. Thune's leadership on this issue. Sen. Johnson has been very effective, too. And Rep. Herseth Sandlin is working hard for us in the House."

The law-enforcement act would encourage more aggressive law enforcement and prosecution on reservations and improve coordination between the U.S. Department of Justice, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and tribal governments and communities in investigating and prosecuting crimes there.

The act also increases the sentencing authority of tribal courts from a maximum of one year imprisonment to three years, and increases the maximum fines. Together, Thune's funding amendment and the bipartisan law-and-order act could provide more money for officers and detention facilities and better cooperation between agencies involved in criminal justice on Native lands, Flandreau Police Chief Ken James said Friday.

"It's badly needed in Indian Country," James said. "I think it's going to have a tremendous impact on how we deal effectively with crimes on Indian reservations."

James, a member of the Santee Sioux Tribe in Nebraska, worked as an officer with the Rapid City Police Department from 1986 to 1996. He has been chief of the Flandreau Police Department for eight years, overseeing five full-time officers who provide law enforcement to both the town and the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe.

"I have to work both sides," James said of the double enforcement roles he and his officers provide. "We've put together a joint powers agreement that we operate under."

James said the arrangement works well in Flandreau, and similar types of cooperation would help expand resources and provide better law enforcement in other Native American environments. Efforts to improve education, social services, health care and economic development in struggling reservation communities will all benefit through improved law enforcement, he said.

"Public safety comes first. That's one of the essential parts of any society," James said. "Once law enforcement improves, everything else seems to follow."

Contact Kevin Woster at 394-8413 or kevin.woster@rapidcityjournal.com