"The budget battles of 2012 struck a blow to key provisions of the Tribal Law and Order Act and although the proposed budget contains increases for some important programs, funding would still remain far lower than what is needed to succeed. Given the current environment in Washington, getting full funding is unlikely, but as Indian country law enforcement professionals, it’s up to us to convince our Congress members to pass the funding levels requested by the White House.

Department of Justice programs that fund law enforcement training and delinquency prevention activities like the COPS Tribal Resources grant program and the Tribal Youth Program were cut by a total of $15 million in 2012. The White House proposal outlines slight increases to some programs—still leaving them partially funded—at the cost of eliminating others, like the Missing and Exploited Children’s Program or programs to educate at risk youth and detained juveniles. Other critical programs like grants to combat violence against women got severely cut. BIA funding focuses on capital improvements and personnel at the cost of eliminating programs for intelligence sharing among law enforcement agencies as well as IT infrastructure improvements."

Get the Story:
Walt Lamar: Indian Country Law Enforcement Still Falling Short in the 2013 Budget (Indian Country Today 3/23)