South Dakota governor seeks audits of tribes

Days after Justice Department boosted resources for tribe, Kristi Noem called for more public funds for tribes, as well as audits of federal funding to tribes

Three days after the U.S. Department of Justice announced a plan to help a Native American tribe in South Dakota reduce domestic violence, Republican Governor Kristi Noem called on the department to do more for public safety on reservations.

On Friday, the department announced the Oglala Sioux Tribe as one of 78 communities across 47 states to be designated under Section 1103 of the Violence Against Women Act. The designation means the tribe will receive focused law enforcement efforts and legal support to prosecute people convicted of domestic violence who own firearms. The initiative aims to prosecute offenders under a federal law prohibiting certain people from possessing firearms.

“Intimate partner violence involving guns presents a grave danger to victims trapped in violent relationships,” said Alison Ramsdell, U.S. attorney for the District of South Dakota, in a statement.

According to Native News Online, 911 emergency calls on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in 2021 included 1,463 domestic violence calls and 522-gun related calls.

On Monday, Noem said in a news release that she sent U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland a letter asking him to “take action to address public safety on Native American reservations in South Dakota.”

Noem’s recommendations include audits of federal funds provided to South Dakota tribes; creating a “Special Assistant United States Attorney initiative” within the state to boost federal prosecutions on tribal lands; more federal support to assist tribes in investigating crime; and encouraging tribes to establish law enforcement agreements with the state.

Elected representatives of all nine tribes in the state have voted to ban Noem from their lands for remarks she made earlier this year, including her allegations that Mexican drug cartels are operating on reservations and that tribal leaders are benefiting from the activity.

Garland met with representatives of the nine tribal nations in South Dakota about their law enforcement and justice system needs on Aug. 14 in Sioux Falls and Wagner. U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, participated in the Wagner meeting. Noem was not invited.

Tribes across the state have treaty agreements that require federal law enforcement support, but the tribes have consistently reported they’re underfunded. Oglala Sioux Tribe Acting Police Chief John Pettigrew told a congressional subcommittee in May that his department is funded at 15% of its needs.

Noem, Rounds and other South Dakota officials have taken various actions this year to help improve public safety on tribal lands.

After Garland’s visit, Rounds sent a letterurging the head of a federal department to change the funding formula for tribal law enforcement, and he has also advocated for the federal government to open a tribal law enforcement training center in South Dakota.

Noem recently worked with Republican South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley to launch a new tribal-focused law enforcement training course that graduated eight recruits. Noem’s Department of Public Safety recently signed an expanded cooperative law enforcement agreement with the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, and Noem has hosted a Tribal Public Safety Crisis Summit and appointed a tribal law enforcement liaison in her office.