The Bureau of Indian Affairs says community policing can alleviate high crimes rates in Indian Country.

The BIA recently sent additional police officers to two reservations but Pat Ragsdale, the director of law enforcement at the agency, said the effort can only so far. The entire community needs to be involved, he said.

"We're not going to arrest ourselves out of the overwhelming poverty and unemployment we have on reservations. But we should be able to create a measure of tranquility that people can build on," Ragsdale told the Associated Press.

The BIA sent 20 officers to the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in June. The response has been positive, according to tribal and federal officials.

Some of those officers were reassigned to the Pine Ridge Reservation when half of the tribal force walked off the job.

Get the Story:
BIA hopes new program will cut crime (AP 9/2)

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