Feds, tribal leaders to seek ways to curb crime on reservations
Story-Date: 02:44 p.m. PST Thursday , August 28, 1997

Feds, tribal leaders to seek ways to curb crime on reservations

BY PHILIP BRASHER
Associated Press Writer


WASHINGTON (AP) -- With Indian reservation crime on the rise, U.S.
attorneys were ordered Thursday to meet with tribal leaders and propose
ways to improve law enforcement.

``Violence and crime in Indian country impose a terrible toll on native
American citizens and interfere with the ability of Indian tribes to
achieve meaningful self governance, as well as peace and stability in their
communities,'' Attorney General Janet Reno said.

One idea being considered is to have the Justice Department take over
police functions of the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The homicide rate on Indian lands has soared 87 percent in the past five
years, even as it has declined nationwide by 22 percent.

President Clinton earlier this week gave the Justice and Interior
departments until the end of the year to suggest ways to curb reservation
crime.

``Many Indian citizens receive police, investigative and detention services
that lag far behind even this country's poorest jurisdictions,'' Clinton
said.

Many reservations have little or only spotty police protection. Two police
officers have been killed in separate incidents over the past two years on
the Navajo reservation in Arizona.

BIA officials and tribal leaders say money is the biggest need, and that
consideration has tribes divided over whether the Justice Department should
take over BIA's law enforcement responsibilities.

Backers of the idea say Congress would be more willing to fund a Justice
Department-run police force than the BIA, which is frequently accused of
mismanaging its programs.

BIA has a $90 million budget for law enforcement and provides both direct
policing as well as funding for tribal-run police departments. The bureau
has 75 investigators and 250 uniformed officers to cover 250 reservations.

Justice Department officials ``can make much more of a financial commitment
and raise the integrity and level of those programs to the kind of quality
we're looking for,'' said Ron Allen, president of the National Congress of
American Indians.

But William Kindle, president of the Rosebud Sioux tribe of South Dakota,
fears the Justice Department would lose interest in Indian law enforcement.
``That's an obligation of the Interior Department,'' he said.

Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, who oversees BIA, also is opposed to
moving the police responsibilities, a spokeswoman said.

Reno is considering a number of options and ``no recommendations have been
made,'' said spokeswoman Christine DiBartolo.

Ted Quasala, BIA's law enforcement director, said his agency needs money to
hire additional officers. On many reservations, police officers have no
back-up and often have to go to areas with no telephone or radio service,
he said.

``It can't be the feds telling the tribes what's good for them. We need to
sit down and listen and come up with some overall plan to meet most
everyone's needs,'' he said.

Another problem is a lack of adequate jails or rehabilitation facilities,
especially for juvenile offenders, said John Schneider, the U.S. attorney
for North Dakota.

``Arresting these juveniles is not the problem. It's the problem after
they've been arrested,'' he said.



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