PINE RIDGE RESERVATION NEEDS AND CONCERNS

The following speaks for itself.

The following is from the Republic of Lakotah.

Pine Ridge Sioux Indian Reservation "NEEDS AND CONCERNS"

NEEDS AND CONCERNS FOR THE POOREST COUNTY IN THE UNITED STATES:

• MORTALITY Lakotah men have a life expectancy of less than 44 years, lowest of any country in the World (excluding AIDS) including Haiti.

• Lakotah death rate is the highest in the United States.

• The Lakotah infant mortality rate is 300% more than the U.S. Average.

• Teenage suicide rate is 150% higher than the U.S national average for this group.

DRUGS AND ALCOHOL:

• More than half the Reservation's adults battle addiction and disease.

• Alcoholism affects 8 in 10 families.

• Two known meth-amphetamine labs allowed to continue operation. Why?

INCARCERATION:

• Indian children incarceration rate 40% higher than whites.

• In South Dakota, 21 percent of state prisoners were Native, yet they only make up 9% of the population.

• Indians have the second largest state prison incarceration rate in the nation.

• Most Indians live in federal reservations. Less than 2% of Indians live where the state has jurisdiction!

DISEASE:

• The Tuberculosis rate on Lakotah reservations is approx. 800% higher than the U.S national average.

• Cervical cancer is 500% higher than the U.S national average.

• The rate of diabetes is 800% higher than the U.S national average.

• Federal Commodity Food Program provides high sugar foods that kill Native people through diabetes and heart disease.

POVERTY:

• Median income is approximately $2,600 to $3,500 per year.

• 97% of our Lakotah people live below the poverty line.

• Many families cannot afford heating oil, wood or propane and many residents use ovens to heat their homes.

HOUSING:

• Elderly die each winter from hypothermia (freezing).

• 1/3 of the homes lack basic clean water and sewage while 40% lack electricity.

• 60% of Reservation families have no telephone.

• 60% of housing is infected with potentially fatal black molds.

• There is an estimated average of 17 people living in each family home (may only

• have two to three rooms). Some homes, built for 6 to 8 people, have up to 30 people

• living in them.

•UNEMPLOYMENT:

• Unemployment rates on our reservations is 85% or higher.

• Government funding for job creation is lost through cronyism and corruption.

THREATENED CULTURE:

• Only 14% of the Lakotah population can speak Lakotah language.

• The language is not being shared inter-generationally, today, the average Lakotah speaker is 65 years old.

• Our Lakotah language is an Endangered Language, on the verge of extinction.


Police Concerns and Needs,
Pine Ridge Sioux Indian Reservation

PUBLIC SAFETY:

• Chief of Police Herman has been diagnosed (confirmed by the F.B.I.) with Munchhausen Syndrome.

• Chief of Police Herman has made two suicide attempts. He shot up his own patrol car and tried to blame another. All typical of Munchhausen Syndrome.

• Chief of Police Herman has abolished the internal affairs department and used the funds to hire both a personal secretary and a personal assistant.

• According to B.I.A. (Bureau of Indian Affairs) statistics the tribal police are 60% understaffed. Only 43 officers to patrol 1500 square miles.

• On August 14th, 2008, when the rank and file police officers asked for a meeting with three members of the Tribal Council. While uninvited, Chief of Police Herman attended the meeting, called in the press and turned the meeting into a fiasco where he dismissed, without pay, 26 of the rank and file officers representing over 250 years of police experience. Chief of Police Herman is under investigation for the scuffle that broke out, yet he remains in his position with full pay.

• Currently, the B.I.A. has been called in. No patrolling is going on at all, but many families are reporting B.I.A. intimidation and break-ins

• B.I.A. officers are following and spying on the attorney for the police officers.

• Death threats have been made. The officers families have been threatened.

• Gang activity and “tagging” is at an all time high.

• The drug dealers have Fully Automatic weapons.

• With the rank and file officers being replaced by B.I.A. officers, there is NO PATROLLING ongoing. A total breakdown in community policing has already occurred.


THIS IS A TRUE AND VITAL EMERGENCY

• No 911 service. There are no street signs, so emergency calls can’t find addresses that don’t exit.

• Since the new police chief came in to power in November of 2007, ALL felony drug prosecutions have been thwarted.

• There exist two known meth-amphetamine labs on the reservation, yet the rank and file officers are prohibited by their superiors to close them down. Why?

• Tribal Police have no federal commission cards.

• Tribal Police are paid 30% less than equivalent B.I.A. officers.

• Tribal Police, unlike B.I.A. officers, get no overtime pay.

• Sixteen hour shifts are common.

OFFICER SAFETY & PAY ISSUES:

• Money allocated for new bullet proof vests diverted for other uses. Current vests are worn out and unsafe.

• The budgets are not updated and modified. For instance, money allocated for police pay has been diverted to vehicle maintenance.

• Last year, there were no cost of living adjustments for tribal police officers. The money went somewhere else. Where did it go?

• Pay already earned is being withheld

• Clearly, the chief of police is trying to starve out the honest rank and file officers currently suspended without pay and force them back to their jobs within a highly corrupt force.


CORRUPTION ISSUES:

• Senator Thune’s earmarked funds for police have been violated. There is an immediate need for a forensic accounting audit.

• Under the current budget 1.3 million dollars is missing. Lost to chronism and corruption.

• Department of Justice grants for new officers syphoned off for private use.