FBI Focuses on Reservation Crime Story-Date: 09:26 a.m. PST Sunday , November 30, 1997 ------------------------------------------------------------ FBI Focuses on Reservation Crime By K. Marie Porterfield, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News WASHINGTON, D.C.--Dec. 1--In operation since Jan., the FBI's Office of Indian Country Investigations, informally known as the Indian Country Desk, has received little publicity. Unit Chief Sarah Pickard has been hard at work trying to fill the gaps left by BIA law enforcement budget cuts and shape her office's approach to issues unique to reservation crime. "In 1995, the BIA lost 100 investigators," she said. "We added 27 agents to our rolls, but that doesn't make up for the diminishment." In response to a clearly established need, 30 more agents were moved to the 6 field offices that have the most dealings with Indian country in 1997. Before Jan., one person, the supervisor of Indian Investigations, handled policy and legislative concerns, supervised cases in the field offices and was a liaison with the BIA and other law enforcement agencies. The current unit, part of the Special Investigations and Initiatives Division, consists of Ms. Pickard and two agent/supervisors. "Over the last several years, there has been growing federal awareness of the complex issues in Indian country, Ms Pickard said. "At the FBI, we looked inside our own operation and looked at our responses to the issues. Now, with more people, we can give more attention to these issues." One of the biggest issues is jurisdiction. "We're always dealing with it," she said. "There is a big gap and a lot of problems are falling through it. People who live in Indian country don't receive the same level of law enforcement as people who live off the reservation," she said. Jurisdictional problems also occur in child support cases. "We work with the Office of Tribal Justice of the Justice Department on child support recovery," she said. "The jurisdictional issues are very murky. If a tribal court orders a non-Indian to pay child support and they don't pay it, who prosecutes the case?" Juvenile offenders are another problem for the federal criminal justice system, she said, especially drug offenders. Most on-reservation drug offenses have to do with marijuana or methamphetamine. "The federal government is not equipped to deal with a high volume of juvenile offenders," she said. "Cases get decided on the basis of resource considerations." Because of overloaded court systems, not all domestic violence cases that fall under federal jurisdiction are prosecuted, said Ms. Pickard. She said her office is working on an initiative so that crimes like domestic violence could be handled at the state level. Besides dealing with violent crime, the FBI investigates fraud -- a practice becoming more common as more financial institutions move onto reservations. Gaming violations, drug trafficking and corruption come under the FBI's purview, as well. Ms. Pickard said that since Jan., she has discovered that tribes have unique cultures and law enforcement needs. "One thing I have learned since taking this job is that you can't equate law enforcement among the Cherokee in North Carolina to the Navajo in Phoenix," she said. She told Indian Country Today that she wants to work with the tribal governments on different reservations to give agents an opportunity to learn what is unique about the reservation. In addition to recently signing a memorandum of understanding with the BIA, the FBI has a 6-month Executive Fellowship Program. Usually somebody from the BIA or tribal law enforcement is hired," she said. "What we want is an exchange of ideas." Ms. Pickard is currently looking for people to fill two professional support positions. "We have agents out there," she said of her office. "What we need now is a clerical infrastructure. "We're looking for people who know the issues in Indian country and who have an historical knowledge of the tribes, so they will know who to talk to and have some idea of the crime problems," she said With more than 11,000 agents working for the FBI, 55 are American Indian and 10 of them are women. American Indians fill 70 FBI support personnel positions. ----- Visit Indian Country Today on the World Wide Web at http://www.indiancountry.com/ ----- (c) 1997, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Distributed by Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News. ------------------------------------------------------------