American Indian Report - November/December 2008 - (Page 20)

l AW EN FO R CE M EN T A Q&A with Indian Country’s Top Cop By Michelle Tirado Over the last year, crime-ridden tribal communities, like Pine Ridge and Standing Rock, have made headlines, giving the public a glimpse of the law enforcement issues that plague Indian Country. But is it that bad all over? No one knows the state of tribal law and order better than Patrick Ragsdale, deputy director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Office of Justice Services. In a recent interview with American Indian Report, Indian Country’s top cop talked about the challenges tribal police departments face in curbing crime and a special BIA operation under way to give one reservation some relief. Air: Give me your take on the state of law enforcement in Indian Country. ragsdale: The overall answer is it needs improvement. We know based upon the last two to three years of analysis that there is a huge gap of personnel resources and funding to support them throughout Indian Country. Typically we have one-third as many law enforcement officers — less than half in a lot of instances — if you compare us with rural America. And rural America is not a real high standard because they have issues and resource problems of their own as well. … Air: What is happening on the Standing Rock Reservation, where the BIA deployed extra officers this summer under the banner “Operation Dakota Peacekeepers?” ragsdale: We commenced that operation on or about the 2nd of June, and that is a direct BIA law enforcement operation at the request of the tribe and the North and South Dakota delegation because of concern about the high rate of crime and incidents on the reservation. Actually, there was a homicide that kind of triggered or heightened the concerns. I think we had about 13 positions at the time [before the operation launched], which is twice as many as we had about three years ago. But given the largeness of the reservation and the way the communities are spread out, it was difficult to pro20 November/December 2008 American Indian Report http://www.doi.gov/watch_office/bia/index.html http://www.standingrock.org/

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of American Indian Report - November/December 2008

American Indian Report - November/December 2008 Contents Notes from Indian Country Elders Conference Offers Balancing Lessons Student Blanket Design Reflects Plains Horse Culture Congress: Activity on the Hill Prep School Recruits Native Students for Transitional Year Prior to College Honoring Nations Clinton Global Initiative Brings Native American Focus to the World A Q&A with Indian Country’s Top Cop Urban Clinics Go Paperless with IHS Record System Ohkay Owingeh Restores Wetlands, Protects Drinking Water Blogroll

American Indian Report - November/December 2008

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