S moke S ignals
MARCH 1, 2018
7
Tuomi continues push for stable police funding
By Dean Rhodes
“The Tribe is in dire need of
sustainable base funding that it
can rely on in the long term to
plan appropriately for the needs
of the department and the
Tribal community.”
Smoke Signals editor
Tribal Council member Brenda
Tuomi continued the Grand Ronde
Tribe’s push for equitable and sta-
ble federal funding of law enforce-
ment, particularly for Terminated
Tribes, during a U.S. Department
of Justice consultation session held
in Washington, D.C., on Thursday,
Feb. 15.
The Tribal Funding Policy consul-
tation was held in conjunction with
the National Congress of American
Indians’ Tribal Nations Policy Sum-
mit that was held Feb. 12-15 in the
nation’s capital as well.
Tuomi was accompanied by Trib-
al Attorney Rob Greene and Tribal
Council Chief of Staff Stacia Her-
nandez.
Tuomi’s testimony continues
Grand Ronde’s lobbying efforts for
law enforcement funding from the
federal government. Previously,
then-Tribal Council Chairman
Reyn Leno testified before the U.S.
House Committee for Appropria-
tions’ Subcommittee on Interior,
Environment and Related Agencies
in May 2017 on the same topic.
In a prepared statement released
to Smoke Signals, Tuomi said that
Tribal police forces are “grossly un-
derfunded” and that Tribes nation-
wide are suffering from “staggering
violent crime and victimization
rates.”
For the Grand Ronde Tribe, the
issue revolves around Termination,
which occurred in 1954 and was not
resolved until Restoration occurred
in November 1983.
“Grand Ronde believes change
is needed to level the playing field
between restored Tribes in Public
Law 280 jurisdictions and those
who are not facing the challenges
~ Tribal Council member Brenda Tuomi
of rebuilding their Tribal govern-
ments after years of Termination or
non-recognition,” Tuomi testified.
Public Law 280 is a federal stat-
ute enacted by Congress in 1953
that enabled states to assume
criminal, as well as civil, jurisdic-
tion in matters involving Native
Americans as litigants on Reser-
vation lands.
On the reservations to which it
applied, Public Law 280 took away
the federal government’s author-
ity to prosecute Indian Country
crimes. It also authorized the states
of Alaska, California, Minnesota,
Nebraska, Oregon and Wisconsin
to prosecute most crimes that oc-
curred in Indian Country.
Tuomi outlined the Tribe’s law
enforcement history since Resto-
ration. In 1997, the Grand Ronde
Tribe entered into an enhanced
service agreement with the Polk
County Sheriff’s Office because of
the Tribe’s remote location and slow
police response. The Tribe, through
Spirit Mountain Community Fund
grants, allocated more than $6
million for increased coverage in
the area between 1997 and 2014.
In 2011, the Grand Ronde Tribe
started its own police department,
assuming primary responsibility
for law enforcement in the Grand
Ronde area. Upon the passage of
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Oregon Senate Bill 412, Tribal
police officers took on state law
enforcement powers as well.
Tuomi said that the Tribe’s cur-
rent police budget is approximately
$1.1 million and the Tribe funds
almost 60 percent of that total.
“The Tribe is able to direct some
Tribal housing dollars to law en-
forcement, but this draws funds
away from much-needed housing
programs,” she said. “We’ve also
been able to secure some compet-
itive grants, like those available
through Department of Justice
programs. This is not a sustainable
strategy for the Tribe, especially
considering budget shortfalls and
other funding limitations.
“The Tribe is in dire need of
sustainable base funding that it
can rely on in the long term to
plan appropriately for the needs
of the department and the Tribal
community.”
Tuomi said that because of the
lack of sustainable funding, the
Grand Ronde Tribe has not been
able to add a forest officer to patrol
the Tribe’s timberlands or imple-
ment technological upgrades, such
as electronic ticketing, replacing
old equipment or maintaining po-
lice vehicles.
“The Tribe would like to, but has
been unable to, increase programs
such as reserve officers, additional
cooperative opportunities with local
jurisdictions to combat drugs and
other crimes, and other community
outreach because participation in
such programs requires funding we
do not have,” Tuomi said.
Tuomi said that protecting public
safety on Tribal lands is part of the
federal government’s trust respon-
sibility, but that available funding
for that responsibility is “grossly
inadequate.”
For instance, the Bureau of In-
dian Affairs’ own 2016 report to
Congress said that base law en-
forcement services in Indian Coun-
try requires $1 billion in funding,
but that the available funding only
meets 20 percent of that need.
And, Tuomi said, the BIA does
not recognize its federal responsi-
bility to fund Tribes, such as Grand
Ronde, that are in Public Law 280
states like Oregon.
“Due to the unavailability of
guaranteed federal funding for pub-
lic safety, Tribal governments like
Grand Ronde apply for public safety
grants – primarily those from the
Department of Justice,” Tuomi
said. “These funds have helped,
but they are neither reliable nor
sufficient. Not only do these types
of grants pit Tribes against each
other, they limit how funds can be
used. … Tribes need to be able to
determine their own law enforce-
ment priorities through stable base
operations funding.”
In addition to asking the Depart-
ment of Justice to re-evaluate its
funding structure, Tuomi said the
Tribe has applied and been denied
BIA funding and advocated on the
congressional level for language to
be inserted into the Department
of the Interior’s Senate Appropri-
ations Bill that would require the
BIA to evaluate the policing chal-
lenges that restored Tribes face in
obtaining funding.
“In closing, Tribal police forc-
es are grossly underfunded and
Tribes nationwide are suffering
from staggering violent crime and
victimization rates,” Tuomi said.
“PL 280 Tribes and those facing
the challenges of Termination and
Restoration are disproportionately
impacted by this underfunding.
When determining how to best
allocate its funds, the Tribe asks
that increased and targeted fund-
ing for those Tribes be given a high
priority.”
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