North Dakota's US Attorney releases Indian Country strategy

Thursday, June 23, 2011  

Tim Purdon, the U.S. Attorney for North Dakota, released an Anti-Violence Strategy for Tribal Communities on Wednesday.

The plan was developed in consultation with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, the Spirit Lake Dakotah Nation, the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate and the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation. It calls for a new prosecutor to handle crime in Indian Country and for a prosecutor to visit reservations more often.

"This Anti-Violence Strategy will not solve all of our public safety challenges in tribal communities. Rather, our hope is that the Strategy is the first step in a new era of government-to-government consultation and cooperation between the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the tribes in North Dakota and that this document opens a new conversation aimed at reducing violent crime with tribal communities and with our law enforcement partners," Purdon said in a press release.

Purdon also plans to hold a tribal conference every year.

Get the Story:
U.S. Attorney's Office unveils anti-violence strategy for reservations (The Bismarck Tribune 6/23)