U.S. attorney pledges action plan to help tribes

OACOMA — The Tribal Listening Conference at Cedar Shore Resort certainly wasn’t the first time people gathered to ponder the myriad problems afflicting South Dakota’s American Indian tribes.

Through the decades, ideas and leaders have come and gone, and the crime and poverty on many reservations has persisted. Still, a mix of about 150 state, federal and tribal officials gathered Thursday to plan and hope for a better future.

South Dakota U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson, whose office organized the conference as part of a broader U.S. Department of Justice initiative to improve public safety in tribal communities, admitted that the conference wouldn’t produce solutions to all of the problems that were discussed.

“That wouldn’t be realistic,” Johnson said to the full assembly. “But a key component of this listening conference is that there does need to be action following.”

To that end, he pledged to deliver an action plan in six to 12 months based partly on the input received at the conference. He expects his office to focus on the development and fostering of ongoing government-to-government relationships, improvement of communications with each tribe, initiation of cross-deputization agreements, and training for U.S. attorney personnel on issues related to Indian Country.

Included in all of those efforts will be a special focus on crimes against Indian women, whom Johnson called “the most victimized group in the United States.”

Tribal leaders have heard similar promises in the past. Lower Brule Sioux Tribe Chairman Michael Jandreau, the longest-tenured tribal chairman in the state, said a similar fervor for improving public safety on tribal reservations flared up during the Clinton administration, only to fade away. This time, he thinks the success of the effort can be measured by the degree to which individual tribes participate, and he said the actions of federal officials will be closely watched.

“I think there needs to be an openness and a willingness to listen and to assure that the words that come forth from the tribes are given some credence,” Jandreau said in an interview with The Daily Republic.

Johnson indicated during his opening speech that he agrees.

“Tribal leaders have been heard in the past, but they haven’t always been listened to,” he said. “Listening requires engagement by both parties. It requires respect and understanding, and it implies that there will be action.”

During a later interview, Johnson recited some of the plans already announced by the Obama administration to improve public safety in Indian Country. They include the addition of 35 assistant U.S. attorneys and 12 FBI victim witness assistants to assist with Indian cases across the nation. Johnson said he’s hopeful some of those positions will be located in South Dakota.

Wizipan “Wizi” Garriott, a Yale-educated Rosebud Sioux Tribe member who works as a policy adviser in the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, said during his presentation that officials in Washington are implementing numerous policy changes to encourage improved public safety on reservations. Those efforts are concentrated on crime-prevention programs, recruitment and retention of police, and the strengthening of tribal courts and jails.

One of the goals of the efforts being directed from Washington is to achieve a 5 percent reduction in criminal activity on four particularly crime-ridden reservations, where pilot projects are starting. One of those reservations, the Standing Rock, is in South Dakota.

“Really, the idea there is to come up with a model of what we can do with regard to public safety in Indian Country and to identify best practices, and also to see what doesn’t work,” Garriott said during his speech. “And from there we’ll have the justification to expand it so that we’re always taking that next step toward improving public safety in Indian Country.”

Besides the speeches by Garriott and Johnson, there were nine separate listening sessions staffed by assistant U.S. attorneys for each of the nine tribes in the state (the sessions were closed to the media). There also was a presentation from a nationally recognized expert on Indian gang activity and speeches by Gov. Mike Rounds, state Supreme Court Chief Justice David Gilbertson and state Attorney General Marty Jackley.

Rounds said the problems on reservations are longstanding and difficult to solve, but he said the willingness of conference attendees to make the effort is encouraging.

“It starts by people who show up and people who attend the meetings and people who participate and have the patience to continue to look forward and look to the successes that they draw on — not necessarily on the huge steps, but on those little steps that make permanent progress,” Rounds said. “And that’s what you’re doing here today.”

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