With tribal communities experiencing a major uptick in violent and drug-related crimes, U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) led a bipartisan contingent of his fellow lawmakers in requesting prioritized federal funding for tribal law enforcement programs in the fiscal year 2025 appropriations bill.
Sen. Rounds and 11 of his colleagues sent a May 15 letter to U.S. Senate appropriators urging them to support robust funding for Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Public Safety and Justice Law Enforcement programs in the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2025.
“We appreciate your past support for tribal law enforcement, and we hope that you will make funding for these programs a priority,” wrote Sen. Rounds and his colleagues, who included U.S. Sens. Steve Daines (R-MT), John Thune (R-SD), and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV).
The senators cited recent data from the U.S. Department of the Interior indicating that some tribes have experienced violent crime rates five times higher than the national average, and pointed out that many law enforcement leaders in Indian Country directly attribute the crime to severe shortages of police personnel.
“On numerous reservations, only a handful of officers are tasked with patrolling millions of acres,” wrote Sen. Rounds and his colleagues. “Criminal entities, including Mexican drug cartels, are taking note of the lack of manpower and are directly targeting reservation communities.”
As a result, they added, tribal law enforcement officers are encountering higher volumes of illegal drugs, including fentanyl.
“With low personnel numbers and a high number of calls for assistance, tribal law enforcement officers often struggle to respond to emergencies in a timely manner,” the senators wrote. “In an attempt to address manpower issues, a number of tribal leaders have asked the federal government to provide emergency resources.”
Robust funding for BIA Public Safety and Justice Law Enforcement programs will help address the public safety crisis and improve law enforcement services in reservation communities, concluded the lawmakers.