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For Immediate Release CONTACT: Justin Kitsch
DORGAN SECURES BOOST IN NEW LAW ENFORCEMENT PERSONNEL AT STANDING ROCK RESERVATION (WASHINGTON, D.C.) --- U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) announced today that a second surge of police officers to the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North and South Dakota will begin next week with 11 new police officers starting on Monday, May 10. Dorgan, who chairs the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, said the Standing Rock Reservation has a high rate of violent crime, resulting from a sprawling geography and far too few police officers. The Senator said Standing Rock has been selected as one of four reservations to receive added law enforcement officers to investigate crimes. In 2008, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) had only nine officers to patrol 2.3 million acres on the Standing Rock Reservation. That staffing often meant that only one officer was on duty to patrol the entire reservation at any given time. The 11 new officers that will start Monday, May 10 will be joined by nine additional officers as soon as accommodations can be made. Those 20 new law enforcement officers will be at the Standing Rock Reservation for a six-month detail. At the end of six months, Dorgan said the BIA is planning to have 20 additional law enforcement officers at Standing Rock. This new program, called the High Priority Performance Goal Initiative, aims to reduce violent crime on these four reservations by five percent within one year. The BIA is partnering with Federal, State, and local police, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Department of Justice, and social services and rehabilitation programs. Dorgan has held repeated hearings and has worked on the law enforcement problem during the past several years. “This new plan by the Obama Administration makes a lot of sense to me,” Dorgan said. “Our government not only signed treaties, but made explicit promises and has a trust responsibility to provide for the public safety in Indian communities. The sad fact is that this promise hasn’t been kept, and we have had a crime wave that has swept through a number of Indian Reservations across the country.” “This new funding and pilot program are an important step in meeting our promises, and I commend the administration,” added Dorgan. -END-
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