Tribe takes law into its own hands

Crow Creek tribal members start patrolling the streets, citing a lack of federal law enforcement

Several nights in a row, Garrett Hawk’s family members had their car windows bashed in with baseball bats and received threatening messages. The Crow Creek citizen and other family members called the police, but no one came.

The streets where he and his younger cousins played football together were no longer safe. His aunt was receiving threatening phone calls. Hawk had had enough.

On July 1, he decided to stay up all night and watch over his family. That night, the Crow Creek BIA division received a call regarding weapons being fired in the street by a group of young men, the same men Hawk’s family says had been previously wreaking havoc.

While no permit is needed for a firearm on Crow Creek, no shooting is allowed within city limits. The young men were given a warning after the interaction.

Less than two hours later, Hawk was shot and killed leaving his home.

“He was always looking out for our younger cousins, even if they bumped heads with each other,” said Shaynna Wounded Knee, Hawk’s cousin who grew up alongside him. “His death could have been prevented.”

The day after Hawk’s death, Crow Creek Chairman Peter Lengkeek issued an Emergency Declaration.

In it, he outlined initiatives proposed by the tribal council to decrease the string of violence faced by the community, including working with the Brule County Sheriff’s Department to lease jail cells, reopening the tribal justice department facilities and establishing a security task force.

Since taking office in 2020, he’s been trying to get help from the Bureau of Indian Affairs regarding crime on his lands. Lengkeek said he has spoken to officials from all over the United States, working his way up the Department of Interior’s chain of command.

“It’s like talking to a brick wall,” he said.

The BIA was not able to comment.

For months, the Crow Creek Nation has been struggling with jurisdictional issues, a lack of law enforcement presence, excessive response times, and a lack of jails and juvenile detention facilities.

Those issues led Lengkeek to assemble a group of eight tribal members to patrol the reservation: the sergeant at arms, Chris Dion, the tribal game wardens and shared security personnel from the Lode Star Casino and the High Plains Dispensary.

All eight members of the night patrol underwent training provided by Canksa Yuha, a Native security force, on the use of batons, mace, tasers and firearms.

Thursday through Sunday, the night patrol hits the road, cruising Crow Creek and patrolling.

Patrol members became involved for a multitude of reasons. One member of the night patrol, Crow Creek tribal secretary Yolanda Aguilar, joined the team because she felt obligated to protect her community, including her young children, she said.

All members of the night patrol work day jobs, one of the reasons why the patrol team only operates four days a week.

The night patrol is one initiative proposed by the council to aid in the struggles facing Crow Creek, the biggest of which is the detention center.

The main issue is that there’s limited space to put perpetrators after apprehension.

Issues spanning generations

In 1985, the Crow Creek Detention Center was constructed in Fort Thompson, the largest community in Crow Creek. The 12-bed, BIA-owned facility was meant to serve both the Crow Creek and Lower Brule Sioux tribes.

In 2003 and 2004, the Department of the Interior’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted an assessment of Indian Country detention facilities and issued a report titled “Neither Safe Nor Secure, An Assessment of Indian Detention Facilities.” The report found CCDC lacking and closed the facility Jan. 19, 2006, with a two-day notice.

In 2006, the Lower Brule Detention Center was completed; however, this facility cannot serve both juveniles and adults and is a 60-bed facility meant to serve both Crow Creek and Lower Brule.

In response to the closure of its detention center, the Crow Creek Tribe sued the BIA in 2006, citing a violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, the process by which federal agencies develop and issue regulations. The U.S. District Court of South Dakota dismissed the suit.

Nearly 20 years later, Crow Creek still lacks its own facility, and the former detention center is slated for demolition.

Without a central detention center, when an adult is arrested, the individual is taken to Lower Brule, but if Lower Brule is full, they’re then released back home.

“That’s the one thing I’m really fighting for,” Lengkeek said. “Do anything you want here because there’s no jail to take you to.”

When a juvenile is arrested, the individual is either taken three hours one-way to the Cheyenne River Reservation, or if that facility is full they’re driven six hours one-way to Rugby, North Dakota. This means that the one BIA officer working that day spends their entire day driving the juvenile to an available facility.

“What I’m learning is that there’s so much attached to these incidents. They’re spending most of their time doing paperwork in their office instead of patrolling,” Lengkeek said.

Currently, none of the three BIA-employed officers lives on Crow Creek, meaning that in the event of an emergency, it would take nearly an hour to arrive.

“I believe they need to live here,” Lengkeek said. “To be a part of this community, that will make them a more effective officer. There’s a dynamic to that that we haven’t seen in a long time.”

Other tribes sue for help

The BIA only handles law enforcement for three of the nine Native nations in South Dakota, while the other six tribes operate their own law enforcement using federal funding.

Under the 1825 “Treaty With The Teton”, which was reaffirmed by the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, the United States Government is obligated to protect not only Crow Creek citizens but all Native reservations in South Dakota.

In 2022, the Oglala Sioux Tribe (OST) launched a lawsuit against the federal government, citing a lack of law enforcement officials on the reservation, which is a breach of treaty rights.

“This federal obligation is not being fulfilled when the Tribe receives more than 133,755 Emergency-911 calls annually, spread across 5,400 square miles (3.1 million acres or about the area of Connecticut), but is provided only 33 federally funded officers and 8 federally funded criminal investigators to respond,” the OST’s lawsuit states.

Fighting for change

Hawk’s family members aren’t going to let what happened to him be forgotten. In late July, Wounded Knee spoke about Hawk’s death at the Not Invisible Act Commission Sub-Committee Hearing in Montana, along with Chairman Lengkeek who spoke about other unsolved murders on Crow Creek.

“It felt really good to get that out there,” Wounded Knee said. “We feel like justice isn’t happening, we feel unheard. To be able to say that out loud meant a lot.”

The family is also still reeling from Hawk’s death last month and living with the trauma. One night while patrolling, a night patrol member discharged their weapon. The sound brought Wounded Knee back to Hawk’s death.

“It was very triggering,” Wounded Knee said. “I had to sit there and think about it, it was a few blocks over.”

As of Sept. 1, it is unclear if any charges have been filed in connection to Hawk’s death.

Dateline:

FORT THOMPSON, S.D.