Indian Country Police Forces Still Severely Understaffed

Indian reservation police forces remain understaffed, with some operating at levels as low as 50 percent, officials told members of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee at a hearing yesterday.

As reported by the Argus Leader today, approximately 3,000 police officers serve all of Indian Country, citing the Bureau of Indian Affairs as the source. Even Washington, D.C., has more officers on its force.

Reasons for the staff shortages are many. One of the biggest ones, though, is poor pay. It has made recruiting and retaining difficult. Some departments are so under-funded that they don’t have the money to hire new staff or to provide the training for certification.

Sen. Dorgan Will Not Seek Reelection

U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) announced yesterday that he will not seek another six-year term.

Dorgan, representing North Dakota in the U.S. Congress for almost 30 years, is chair of several Senate committees, including the one on Indian Affairs (in which he was serving his second term).

Over the last year, Dorgan was making plans to run again, but, as he said in a press statement issued yesterday, he recently started wrestling with the question of whether committing to serve another seven years (next year and the six-year term) was the right thing to do.

“It has been a long and wonderful career made possible by the people of North Dakota. And I am forever grateful to them for the opportunity,” Dorgan said. “Although I still have a passion for public service and enjoy my work in the Senate, I have other interests and I have other things I would like to pursue outside of public life.”

Robideaux Indian Affairs Hearing Available

Yesterday's Senate Committee on Indian Affairs confirmation hearing for Indian Health Service nominee Dr. Yvette Roubideaux is available for viewing on the committee's website.

Freedmen Issue Dogs Cherokee Nation

According to Indianz.com the members of the Congressional Black Caucus have told Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that they will block reauthorization of the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act until the citizenship status of the Freedmen is addressed. An amendment to the legislation prohibits giving federal funds to the Cherokee Nation unless it restores the Freedmen to citizenship. In addition, last week at the Federal Bar Association’s Indian Law Conference, Allison Binney, the staff director for the Senate Indian Affairs Committee said the House is considering adding a similar provision to its version of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act.

Dorgan Wants Tribal Input on Contract Health Services

Sen. Byron Dorgan, chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, says he will hold hearings on the Contract Health Service program and he wants tribal leaders and others involved in Indian health care to speak up.

In a letter to tribal leaders, Dorgan said the program is “not working well, and many individual Indians are often faced with having to pay enormous bills that are supposed to be covered by the federal government.”

In fact, the CHS program is generally funded at about half the need and tends to run out of money about eight or nine months into the fiscal year. After the money runs out, only emergency and acute urgent care is provided, giving rise to the wry maxim: “Don’t get sick after June.”

Dorgan would like comments from tribal members and tribal leaders on how the current CHS program is working and to be informed of any problems tribal communities are facing regarding health care.