- Details
- By Native News Online Staff
Tune in this Friday, August 30, 2024 at 12 noon - EDT, as Native News Online editor Levi Rickert interviews Assiniboine (Nakoda) and Gros Ventre (Aaniih) Nations of the Fort Belknap Indian Community President Jeff Stiffarm and Tom Rodgers (Blackfeet), President of Carlyle Consulting about the lack of law enforcement on Indian reservations.
Two weeks ago, Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) wrote a letter to the comptroller general at the Government Accountability Office (GAO), to say the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)’s public safety efforts in Montana are unacceptable.
Tester went further. He demanded answers as to why the BIA there is a shortage of law enforcement officers.
“While there are many shortcomings to discuss, none are more clear than the extreme lack of trained law enforcement officers on each reservation,” Tester wrote. “Tribal law enforcement officers are being asked to patrol reservations the size of some U.S. states while consistently understaffed.”
The shortage of tribal law enforcement on reservations has yielded a myriad of problems, such as the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) epidemic, large flow of drugs onto tribal lands.
Stiffarm and Rodgers discuss the issue and offer some recommendations on how to arrest the ongoing problems.
Tune in to Native Bidaské LIVE this Friday, August 30, 2024, at 12 Noon ET on Native News Online's Facebook, X (Twitter), or YouTube channel.
More Stories Like This
Native News Weekly (August 25, 2024): D.C. BriefsNative News Weekly (August 4, 2024): D.C. Briefs
Groups Seek to Intervene to Protect Voters Rights
Senate Committee on Indian Affairs to Hold Hearing on Nomination of Patrice Kunesh for Chair of National Indian Gaming Commission
Warrior Up to Vote Tour Hopes to See Record Native Voter Turnout in November
Following the release of the U.S. Department of the Interior's final report, we at Native News Online took a moment to reflect on our extensive three-year effort to highlight the traumatic legacy of Indian boarding schools. By covering all 12 Road to Healing events and publishing over 250 articles, we have amplified survivors' voices and illuminated the lasting impact on Indigenous communities. Our work continues. Please consider donating to help fund our ongoing coverage of Indian boarding schools.
