by Clara NiiSka

 Violent crimes against Indians were “alarmingly high” in 1998, about three times the rate of violent crimes against whites, according to a Justice Department study released March 18.  One in nine Indians is a victim of violent crime—rape, sexual assault, robbery, or assault—each year. 

There has been a nationwide decline in major crimes nationwide during the past eight years.  Violent crimes against whites fell 29 percent, against blacks 38 percent, and against Hispanics 45 percent.  But rates of violent crimes against Indians have remained about the same since 1993, according to the Justice Department study.

 In part because reservation population figures are disputed, statistics in “Indian country” are subject to interpretation.  The Bureau of Indian Affairs, in its Budget Justifications and Annual Performance Plan submitted to Congress for Fiscal Year 2001, presented “actual” Class I and II crime rates for the fiscal year 1998 which were about double the violent crime rate reported by the Justice Department.  And, according to the BIA, crimes in “Indian Country” are twice as likely to be violent as crimes elsewhere in the U.S.

 In its justifications to Congress, the BIA proposed to spend $319 million dollars on reservation public safety and justice in fiscal year 2001, and set its performance goal at reducing crime by one percent.  The BIA planned expenditures in training, increased staffing, equipment purchases, and crime prevention programs such as the Community Policing Program.  BIA expenditures for public safety and justice were about a third of the $14.6 million total budgeted for Minnesota reservations, including $21,420 for tribal courts at Mille Lacs, $246,900 for Red Lake tribal courts, $118,420 for tribal courts at Boise Forte; and $16,984 for justice at White Earth.

 In addition to State and County law enforcement and court expenditures on reservations subject to State jurisdiction under Public Law 280—every reservation in Minnesota except Red Lake—money to combat crime in “Indian country” also comes from a variety of sources beyond the BIA.  These include the Department of Justice, State funding, and foundation grants.  The Blandin and Wilder foundations are among those making significant contributions to crime prevention and law enforcement on Minnesota Indian reservations.

 In 1883 the US asserted federal jurisdiction over murder, rape and certain other violent crimes in “Indian country.”  The Department of Justice is directly involved with law enforcement on Indian reservations through the FBI and federal jurisdiction pursuant to the Indian Major Crimes Act.

In 1997, the Department of Justice found an “urgent” public safety crisis on Indian reservations.  Following former President Clinton’s directives, in fiscal year 1999 the Justice Department began budgeting even more money, for new Justice Department programs intended to address the “significant” rise in serious and violent crimes on reservations.  Since then, the DOJ has spent more than $5.6 million for “Indian Country Law Enforcement Improvements” in Minnesota, expended as federal grants administered through reservation tribal councils.  The $5.6 million  includes nearly $1.3 million to the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians (current estimated reservation population 4,000), more than $1.2 million to the Mille Lacs Band (estimated Indian population 1,000), and about $2.2 million to the White Earth Reservation Tribal Council (estimated Indian population 3,000).

Initial DOJ program proposals included jail construction, hiring and training of additional police, purchase of equipment, and addressing gang and drug problems on the reservations.  Press/ON has requested details of the DOJ expenditures on Minnesota reservations under the Freedom of Information Act, but at press time had not yet received them.

In addition to the FBI and law enforcement activities through tribal governments, the Department of Justice has established an Office of Tribal Justice.  The DOJ describes itself as supporting and assisting Indian tribes in the development of law enforcement systems, tribal courts, and traditional justice systems. Also, DOJ attorneys litigate on behalf of Indian tribes, and “defend the lawful exercise of tribal governmental powers.”

Current efforts to address violent crime at Red Lake include Justice Training Partnerships and a program called Working Together.  These are partially funded by a $50,000 Byrne grant from the State of Minnesota, Department of Public Safety, supplemented by a “local cash match” of $16,667.  The Red Lake tribal council described the Justice Training Partnerships as a “community training project that increases public safety and improves the criminal justice system,” being developed in collaboration with the Center for Reducing Rural Violence.  Application forms budgeted the project at $106,786.

 Red Lake’s project narrative in application for the Working Together grants describes a “disturbing growth in violent crime.”  The figures provided by the Red Lake Department of Public Safety include a 329 per cent increase in aggravated assault between 1997 and 1999, and a 587 per cent increase in burglaries during those two years.  There were a total of 932 crimes recorded during 1997; 1,297 the next year; and 1,872 crimes for the year 1999.  The Red Lake Band claims that the reservation population has rapidly increased, to “about eight thousand,” which would make the Red Lake crime rate slightly higher than the overall reservation crime rate as calculated by the BIA.

 However, reservation population figures are disputed.  The same Working Together proposal gives the reservation population of “minor children” as 2,500, “with approximately 1,800 women.”  In a February 28 interview with Press/ON, tribal chairman Bobby Whitefeather estimated the resident Red Lake population at about 5,700.  Press/ON’s estimates of current Red Lake reservation population—about four thousand—are based on school enrollment, voter registration and other reliable indices.  These statistics mean that the Red Lake crime rate is indeed “disturbing”—an Indian residing on Red Lake reservation has almost a fifty-fifty chance of being subjected to every year.

 The Working Together program will begin the process of addressing crime at Red Lake with “facilitated” planning and training, to take place in a series of three two-day off-reservation retreats.  The program budget includes $75,707 for salaries; $16,869 for travel, lodging and per diem; $13,135 in “indirect costs”; and $1075 for office expenses.

 Approaching crime problems with a strategy of overnight retreats for criminal justice system programs staff is new to the Center for Reducing Rural Violence.  The CRRV tailors its “action plans” to the specific needs of each community as described in grant proposals.

Representatives from the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office were reportedly present at the first Red Lake crime prevention retreat, meeting with Indian programs staff to “come up with a vision of what they want.”  Key factors in reducing Red Lake reservation crime were identified at the first retreat as including “good role models,” increasing fluency and use of the Ojibwe language, and reducing high rates of diabetes.  These are “initial” ideas, described to Press/ON as a part of the process of determining, “where is the community today?”  Concern about alcoholism at Red Lake was also expressed as a “part of the big picture.”  CRRV is currently also funding a “youth focused crime prevention” grant through the Red Lake schools.

The goals of the one-year Working Together grant include developing an “action plan,” and a sense of the community and available resources.  It is intended to be an initiative fund, providing the basis “to apply for more funds” later.

 Press/ON the contacted the Department of Public Safety’s grant manager for the Red Lake project, and asked about State funding priorities, grantee accountability, and the State’s responsibility in terms of broader criminal justice concerns like civil rights.  The grant manager explained that program funds are allocated by the State Legislature for crime prevention initiatives, and that grants are awarded based on proposals and the State’s experience with the applicant as a past grantee.  She noted that her office funds “hundreds of grants,” and that the priorities for crime prevention grants like the Red Lake Working Together program are “identified” by the grant applicant.