Commitment to recruit and train more North Dakota tribal law enforcement

FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) – In an effort to combat crime in tribal communities, approval has been given for more officers to be trained for North Dakota’s Bureau of Indian affairs.

At hearings of the Senate Indian Affairs and Interior Appropriations Committees this week, North Dakota Senator John Hoeven pressed BIA Assistant Secretary Bryan Newland on the need for additional law enforcement in Indian Country and secured his support for increasing operations at The Indian Law Enforcement Advanced Training Center (ATC) at Camp Grafton .

“We need to continue to build it, because we need more law enforcement, not only on the reservation, but across the country,” said Sen. John Hoeven.

In 2020, Hoeven secured funding to open the ATC at Camp Grafton to provide law enforcement training options closer to home for BIA officers in the Upper Great Plains.

Camp Grafton delivers training for police officers, criminal investigators, correctional officers, dispatchers, and command staff working in Indian country. Specifically, the ATC at Camp Grafton delivers specialized advanced training in areas such as criminal, narcotics, and missing children’s investigations.

“According to BIA’s most recent data from 2021, 5,429 law enforcement and public safety personal participated in training programs offered at the Camp Grafton ATC and the Indian Police Academy in New Mexico, but over 3,000 training participants, more than half, received training at the ATC. That’s good progress, but we need to do more, and key officials at the Interior Department committed to work with us to train and recruit more law enforcement officials for our tribal communities.”

ATC also offers training in more recent areas of need like school resource officer training and opioid overdose protocols.

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