Dorgan Says Police Surge in Standing Rock is Working but More Must be Done

Press Release

U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) said that a U.S. Park Police Report on the law enforcement surge in Standing Rock showed the effort has improved public safety on the Reservation.

A division of the US Park Police visited Standing Rock last week to conduct onsite observations of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' (BIA) 30-day assignment of eight officers from the park service to law enforcement on the Reservation.

In 2008, the Bureau of Indian Affairs had only nine officers to patrol 2.3 million acres on the Standing Rock Reservation. That staffing often meant that only one officer was on duty to patrol the entire reservation at any given time. The BIA's High Priority Performance Goal Initiative added 24 police officers detailed to the Reservation, bringing the total force at Standing Rock to 38, which is an acceptable level to patrol this sprawling reservation.

According to the today's report by the US Park Police Fraternal Order of Police, the law enforcement surge has had a significant impact on crime and improved the public safety of Standing Rock. In the first four weeks of the Initiative, U.S. Park Police made approximately 200 arrests and additional arrests have been made by BIA and US Rangers.

"Today's report provided a welcome update on the police surge at Standing Rock, which I pushed to address the unacceptably high crime levels on the Reservation," Dorgan said. "While I'm pleased to hear that our first step to beef up law enforcement is leading to more arrests and successfully increasing public safety, there is clearly more work to be done."

Dorgan has held repeated official Senate hearings and has worked on the law enforcement problem during the past several years. In 2008, he worked with the BIA to implement Operation Dakota Peacekeeper, which also increased the police presence on the Reservation. The success of the first surge led to the BIA's determination to push for a more significant reduction in crime on the Reservation through this current police detail.

The BIA is working to hire permanent officers by the time the one-year details end.

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