ICYMI: Rounds Receives Support from Interior Secretary Burgum for Great Plains Tribal Law Enforcement Training Center

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) asked Secretary of Interior Doug Burgum about support for a tribal law enforcement training center in the Great Plains region.

Currently, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), housed under the Department of Interior, requires most BIA tribal law enforcement officers to undergo formal training at a facility in New Mexico for up to six months at a time. Many tribal leaders have shared that distance to the facility and the long duration of training is a barrier to recruitment for new tribal law enforcement officers, contributing to the officer shortage in the Great Plains region.

Last summer, the BIA partnered with the State of South Dakota to train tribal law enforcement officers at the George S. Mickelson Criminal Justice Center in Pierre. The local training program was widely successful, with nine tribal recruits from three different tribes in South Dakota graduating from the program.

“Most Great Plains tribal law enforcement agencies are understaffed, with as few as two officers responsible for patrolling millions of acres during a single shift,” said Rounds. “Would you consider working with them in a cooperative effort to perhaps find a way to fund some additional spots in the northern Great Plains for those law enforcement officers so they wouldn’t have to travel for six months down to New Mexico?”

“We’ve had great collaboration on advanced training at Camp Grafton, North Dakota,” responded Burgum. “Adding basic training there I think would be helpful for recruiting for northern plains tribes and I’d be fully supportive of that.” 

Rounds also asked Burgum about the creation of a tribal violent crime commission, as well as the creation of a formal mediation process for fence line disputes between landowners and the United States Forest Service. Watch a full clip of the exchange HERE. 

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