Rampant crime has overtaken the largest Native American reservation in South Dakota and the federal government has stalled in helping to bolster law enforcement there, according to its tribal leader.
Frank Star Comes Out, chairman of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, is expected to declare a state of emergency on the Pine Ridge Reservation as gun violence, drug crimes and rape have become increasingly common on the Pine Ridge Reservation, according to reports.
There are only 33 officers and eight investigators responsible for more than 100,000 emergency calls a year on the 5,400-square-mile reservation, officials said.
Only four or five agents are on duty at a time, resulting in response times of hours or no response at all.
“With five police officers, it’s just impossible,” Star Comes Out said in an interview Friday.
Frank Star Comes Out, leader of the Oglala Sioux tribe in South Dakota, is expected to declare a state of emergency due to widespread crime and inadequate funding for law enforcement.
“Our officers are overworked and underpaid. They are outmanned. And it is dangerous for them to respond to calls alone.”
Oglala Sioux officials say they are entitled to funding for 120 officers, but federal officials dispute that, in part because their population is much smaller than the tribe’s.
Earlier this year, a federal judge ruled that the government has an obligation to support law enforcement on the reservation, but declined to determine whether the tribe should get the full funding it seeks.
In May, a march took place in Seattle for murdered indigenous women, individuals and families. AP
However, U.S. District Judge Roberto Lange ordered the federal government to reevaluate the census counts and order U.S. officials to meet with tribal leaders to discuss funding.
“In recent years, reservation communities have struggled with dangerous and highly addictive drugs and experienced unprecedented levels of violence and threats to public safety,” Lange said earlier this year.
“In the Tribe’s view, the lack of competent and effective law enforcement on the Reservation is a major reason for the crisis.”
On some reservations, Indian women are murdered at a rate ten times the national average, according to the Indian Law Resource Center.AP
The outcome in Pine Ridge could affect other tribes across the country, such as in Montana, where a similar case was filed.
On some reservations, Indigenous women are murdered at a rate ten times the national average, according to the Indian Law Resource Center.
With postal cables
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Source: vtt.edu.vn