2nd tribal nation signs pact with North Dakota Highway Patrol

Tribal and state officers on Tuesday signed the memorandum of understanding in Bismarck.

Patrol Sgt. Jenna Clawson Huibregtse stated the mutual help settlement is just like the one with the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, which inked its pact final fall.

The agreements are supposed to enhance legislation enforcement responses on and round American Indian reservations, permitting the closest obtainable officer to reply, no matter jurisdiction.

“This permits us to help one another on and close to tribal lands however doesn’t increase arrest authority,” Clawson Huibregtse stated.

Traditionally, 911 dispatchers have requested reservation-area callers if they’re enrolled tribal members or to not assist decide jurisdiction, however the query can really feel discriminatory. Below the agreements, that willpower is basically left till after the emergency is underneath management.

The 2021 Legislature handed a legislation for mutual help between tribal police and state and native legislation enforcement businesses, which Clawson Huibregtse stated ensures the settlement is “100% mutual.”

Spirit Lake has all the time had federal Bureau of Indian Affairs and FBI legislation enforcement providers “with at the least some presence at a while,” in response to Tribal Courtroom Chief Decide Joe Vetsch. 

Earlier this yr, Spirit Lake signed cross-deputization and particular legislation enforcement fee agreements with the Lake Area Narcotics Process Power, the state Bureau of Felony Investigation and the sheriffs’ departments of Benson, Eddy and Ramsey counties, he stated. 

Essentially the most lively is Benson County, “largely as a result of such a big a part of the reservation is in Benson County,” Vetsch stated.

Spirit Lake Tribal Chairman Douglas Yankton stated the mere presence of legislation enforcement hinders prison habits corresponding to drug and human trafficking.

Troopers will probably be educated on the settlement subsequent week and can obtain a cultural consciousness coaching on the similar time, Clawson Huibregtse stated.