Policing in Indian country has a unique nature. The severity of crime, race of the offender, race of the victim, and location of the crime determine jurisdiction of the crime and appropriate victimization services. Jurisdiction over offenses may lie with a single agency or multiple agencies:
| Federal | U.S. Attorneys, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Drug Enforcement Agency, and/or Bureau of Indian Affairs |
| State | State Law Enforcement, County Sheriff or City Chief of Police |
| Tribal | Tribal Law Enforcement |
The U.S. Department of Justice supports tribal law enforcement that is responsible for patrolling more than 55 million acres of land held in trust by the U.S. for Indian tribes or individual native persons. A wide variety of resources will assist law enforcement in Indian country and are provided in the following Web pages:
- Community Capacity Development Office
- Office of Community Oriented Policing Services
- Office on Violence Against Women
To address these policy, coordination, management, and resource issues, the U.S. Department of Justice partnered with the International Association of Chiefs of Police's Indian Country Law Enforcement Section in its 2001 inaugural summit on "Improving Safety in Indian Country." The document includes recommendations to improve safety in Indian country.
Indian country law enforcement agencies experience a number of challenges.
Some of these challenges are identified by all law enforcement agencies and findings of Policing on American Indian Reservations.
To address these policy, coordination, management, and resource issues, the U.S. Department of Justice partnered with the International Association of Chiefs of Police's Indian Country Law Enforcement Section in its 2001 inaugural summit on "Improving Safety in Indian Country." The document includes recommendations to improve safety in Indian country.
Gang Resistance Education And Training
The G.R.E.A.T. Program is a school-based, law enforcement officer-instructed classroom curriculum that is intended to immunize non-tribal and tribal youth against delinquency, youth violence, and gang membership. Since its inception in 1991, 8,000 law enforcement officers have been certified as G.R.E.A.T. instructors and more than 4,000,000 students have graduated from the G.R.E.A.T. Program, which focuses on providing life skills to students to help them avoid delinquent behavior and violence to solve problems. The program consists of four components: a 13-week middle school curriculum, an elementary school curriculum, a summer program, and families training. The Institute for Intergovernmental Research (IIR) provides national training coordination, services, and related tasks. The five regional centers responsible for training sworn state, local, and tribal law enforcement officers to teach the G.R.E.A.T. curriculum in elementary and middle schools across the country are La Cross Police Department, WI; Philadelphia Police Department, PA; Orange County Sheriff's Office, FL; Portland Police Department, OR; and the Phoenix Police Department, AZ. In FY 2006, federal funds were used to support one or more of the following G.R.E.A.T. curricula, components, and activities: 13-week middle school curriculum (a core, mandatory component); 6-week elementary (4th and 5th grades) curriculum; 6-lesson G.R.E.A.T. families component; or G.R.E.A.T. summer component. Applicants could apply for a maximum award of $250,000 over a 12-month project period based upon the following levels: Level I: Up to $60,000 for agencies implementing the G.R.E.A.T. Middle School component. Level II: Up to $100,000 for agencies implementing the G.R.E.A.T. Middle School component and one other component. Level III: Up to $150,000 for agencies implementing the G.R.E.A.T. Middle School component and two other components. Level IV: Up to $250,000 for agencies implementing the G.R.E.A.T. Middle School Component and three other components.
Center for Task Force Training (CenTF) Program
The CenTF Program coordinates the delivery of specialized narcotics-related training to law enforcement officials throughout the United States and is administered by the Institute for Intergovernmental Research (IIR), which will provide critical training support services for 10 specialized Methamphetamine Investigation Management Workshops for tribal law enforcement agencies. Support for this initiative is derived from BJA's Indian Alcohol and Substance Abuse Program.
State and Local Anti-Terrorism Training (SLATT) Program
The Institute for Intergovernmental Research (IIR) will continue the delivery of existing training services and modalities along with related research, issue identification, curriculum development, and technical assistance support activities for the State and Local Anti-Terrorism Training (SLATT) Program. Additionally, IIR will provide support to meetings of the Counter-Terrorism Training Coordination Working Group and by assisting in the enhancement and provision of content maintenance of the Counter-Terrorism Training and Resources for Law Enforcement Website. In order to address the needs of specialized law enforcement agencies, a number of focus groups are planned. These focus groups will address current issues and instructor development. To meet the SLATT Indian Country initiative, the SLATT Program coordinates tribal lands training events with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), and local United States Attorneys' Offices. This Indian Country initiative, an excellent example of partnerships in action, has been well received and will continue in 2006. Specialized training will address present and future tribal law enforcement needs relating to anti-terrorism and criminal extremism detection, investigation, and prevention.
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