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OCR Page 1 of 64FORT PECK TRIBES
Assiniboine & Sioux
SPIKE BIGHORN, CHAIRMAN
OF THE
ASSINIBOINE AND SIOUX TRIBES OF THE
FORT PECK RESERVATION
BEFORE THE
SENATE COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS
June 3, 1998
Good morning Mr. Chairman, Mr. Vice-Chairman and Committee members. My name is
Spike Bighorn, I am Chairman of the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Reservation of
Montana. I would like to thank the Committee for the opportunity to testify today on the Joint
Department of Justice and Department of the Interior Tribal Justice Initiative which we strongly
support. The Fort Peck Reservation consists of over two thousand square miles of land in
northeastern Montana. We have a population of 13,000 living on the Reservation. We see the
initiative as an important step toward meeting law enforcement needs on our Reservation.
A.
Needs in Indian Country
As we testified before the Appropriations Committee, we have significant unmet needs in the
area of law enforcement. Specifically, we have a $1.1 million shortfall in our law enforcement
department. We currently have a police force of 19. We need an additional twenty officers to meet
the President's goal of 2.9 officers per 1000 persons. Moreover, in a rural Reservation, with the
population spread thinly over a vast area, even the President's goal would not adequately serve our
needs. Although our officers are well trained and dedicated, there are simply not enough of them to
meet the day to day law enforcement needs of my community. Eleven dispatchers serve the police
department, but we require at least 6 additional persons to adequately serve the Reservation. I have
attached for the record the 1997 monthly reports for the Tribal Police Department.
In addition, our law enforcement department is in desperate need of equipment. We have only
8 police cars to patrol the entire Reservation and those are already suffering from deterioration.
Because our officers must cover a large geographic area, the police cars assume an enormous amount
of wear and tear? This fact, coupled with the small number of cars, results in a dangerous situation
where we lack adequate and reliable transportation for our officers. At a minimum, we need 11 more
usable vehicles - so that we would have one per officer. Our Department also needs additional
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criminal equipment such as car radios, bulletproof vests, roll bars and protective shields. We
commend Senator Campbell for his leadership in seeing that the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant
Act passed by this Congress ensures that Tribal law enforcement agencies will receive an allocation
of this new grant program.
We strongly agree with the Department of Justice that there is a critical need to accurately
document crime statistics in Indian country. Documenting the number of crimes, accidents, highway
Poplar, Montana 59255
P.O. Box 1027
(406) 768-5155