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Oglala Sioux Tribe asks feds to investigate law enforcement
A couple stands overlooking NDN Collective's Wičaktepi Remembrance Garden in Rapid City. The garden was created to remember community members who died in fatal police-involved shootings in the city. (Photo by Amelia Schafer, ICT/Rapid City Journal)
The tribe wants the Justice Department to investigate anti-Native discrimination in arrests, shootings and traffic stops in Rapid City
The Oglala Sioux Tribe is calling for the U.S. Justice Department to launch an investigation into the Rapid City Police Department citing a pattern of discrimination against Native Americans in the city.
On Sept. 24, during a regular council meeting, the tribal council unanimously voted to pass a resolution requesting the DOJ begin investigating. Resolution No. 24-134 specifically asks for the DOJ to investigate the Rapid City Police Department and the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office.
“There is a pattern of practices by police in both Rapid City and Pennington County, South Dakota, that disproportionately targets Native Americans in police stops, in arrests, police killings, and police officer killings of tribal members,” the tribe stated in the resolution.
Native Americans represent about a tenth of Rapid City’s population but comprise nearly 60 percent of all fatal police-involved shootings since 2007, as found by a June investigation by Lee Enterprises’ Public Service Journalism team.
In a joint statement from Rapid City Police and the Pennington County Sherriff’s Department, both offices said they are dedicated to protecting and serving the community and outlined recent initiatives the departments have taken.
“The Rapid City Police Department and Pennington County Sheriff’s Office are aware that NDN Collective has sought a resolution by the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council to request a Department of Justice review of our policies and practices,” the Rapid City Police Department and Pennington County Sheriff’s Department said in an email response to ICT. “This is not a new effort by NDN Collective. We have been in communication with federal agencies in recent years to indicate we would be open to any review the DOJ would see fit.”
The joint statement added that training, procedures and policies are open to third-party entities for review.
The Pennington County Sheriff’s Department and Rapid City Police Department signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Oglala Sioux Tribe in 2015 and another in 2022. The 2015 Memorandum allows both agencies to help the tribe when needed.
The organizations both said they have not heard from the tribe about any issues or concerns.
“We are disappointed to hear about this resolution through a press release,” the statement concluded. “We are open and will remain open to discussing potential or perceived issues with the Oglala Sioux Tribe.”
The Pine Ridge Reservation, the largest in the state, is the closest reservation to Rapid City. The closest point, Red Shirt, is roughly a 30-minute drive from Rapid City. Many tribal citizens commute daily to Rapid City from the reservation, or to the reservation from Rapid City.
A majority of the city’s Native community is Lakota, specifically Oglala Lakota. With roughly 48,000 tribal citizens, the tribe also has the largest citizenship in the state.
“For generations, our relatives have been impacted by waves of grief and mourning from police violence, murders, and missing relatives,” the nonprofit NDN Collective said in an Oct. 1 statement. “In South Dakota, from 2001-2023 there have been 79 police-involved shootings statewide, 0 convictions of police officers, additionally, 75 percent of the fatal shooting victims were Indigenous people.”
On May 24, NDN Collective unveiled a park dedicated to Native Americans who were killed in police-involved shootings in the city near their headquarters on Knollwood Drive. The park was created as part of its Rapid City vs. Racism campaign.
In the resolution, the tribe invoked the Bad Man Clause of the 1851 and 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty, which outlines and subsequently reaffirms that the United States is responsible for protecting the Oglala Sioux Tribe, and other tribes, from “bad men” or those who hurt tribal members.
“We make up less than 10 percent of the population in the state of South Dakota but are comprised of 51 percent of the people incarcerated making South Dakota and the Indigenous population here ground zero for the over-incarceration of Indigenous people in the nation,” said Nick Tilsen, Oglala Lakota, president & CEO of NDN Collective in an Oct. 1 press release.
On Sept. 27, the Bureau of Indian Affairs received the tribe’s request.
The Justice Department and Oglala Sioux Tribe were unable to respond by publication time.
“Should any appropriate federal third party deem any future action necessary toward our agencies, we would welcome any review by qualified subject matter experts in public safety or criminal justice,” the Rapid City Police Department and Pennington County Sheriff’s Department said in an email response to ICT.
*This story was updated to include a response from law enforcement
This story is co-published by the Rapid City Journal and ICT, a news partnership that covers Indigenous communities in the South Dakota area.