And yet, there are tribes that are very successful. A South Carolina tribe owns and runs a successful concrete company. Indians in New York still walk the tall steel in construction. With drive, determination, education, and intact families, much can be done. But yes, they need more cops.

quote:

Originally posted by Fredward:
And yet, there are tribes that are very successful. A South Carolina tribe owns and runs a successful concrete company. Indians in New York still walk the tall steel in construction. With drive, determination, education, and intact families, much can be done. But yes, they need more cops.

This is what I was trying to convey. It's easy to be lazy and even easier to lay blame on alcohol, drugs, or even big ol' mean ass whitey. Change will only come when they want change. Until then, everything will be a stopgap measure. You could hire 1 cop per person on some reservations and it still wouldn't change anything. I lived in AZ and CO with plenty of trips through rez country to know I'm not wrong. It's amazing that everyone around them can be productive individuals, but those on the rez seem hellbent on thinking it's the white man's responsibility to take care of them. It's engrained in them from generations ago and tribal leaders don't want the general population on the rez to succeed. Cuts down on the funds that are available from .gov and they can't steal it as easily.

quote:

Originally posted by Beancooker:
I think getting them more law enforcement is a great idea. There is definitely a need for it.

Until you have been to a reservation, let alone one as poor and diseased as Pine Ridge, you won’t understand. The poverty, the generations of alcoholism, it’s so sad. 25% of the kids born on the PRR (Pine Ridge Reservation) are born with FAS (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome). Seeing kids that are born with FAS is terrible. For those that don’t know, FAS ranges from having a kid that’s a little “slow”, to one that is wheelchair bound, with more health problems than anyone should endure. It’s what we used to call “severely retarded with severe physical disabilities”. It’s just unimaginable. Most of the kids born on the PRR with FAS are closer to the latter, where they are born to a life of constant care.

The life expectancy of a woman on the PRR is 44 years old. Men are 42. If you look at the PRR as an autonomous country, it has the lowest life expectancy of any country on the planet. Even lower than Somalia. Think about this for a minute. If the average is 44/42, how many are dying before that age? Seeing the drinking is something that you feel is a prank. Like waiting for the hidden camera and everyone to start laughing. But it’s not a joke, there’s no prank. Literally watching people drink 24 hours a day, and I mean drinking. Like drunker than I ever care to be, then just don’t stop, keep that train going. When I say it is unimaginable, it really is.

This is all due to alcohol. Alcohol on the PRR is like the meth and opioid problems in much of the US, but worse. Worse than you can imagine.

I have a pretty vast knowledge of the PRR and it’s just sad.

So yes, let’s start by getting some law enforcement. Then continue with education, specifically alcohol education.

Alcohol is a problem but, not as much as the meth.

Education may work. If anyone would show up. The Rez’s by me have beautiful schools. Everything new w/ no expense spared of everyone’s tax dollars. The school bell rings and you barely have enough to hold a class. One of the Rez’s even tried to have some classes to teach some of their own culture and language. I don’t think very many even cared let alone attend and participate.

Unfortunately when you raise a perpetual victim culture w/ a socialist system that is what you get.

I have a relative in law enforcement in Oklahoma. On the reservation there, the number one problem by far is alcohol. Meth is coming in second and closing with fentanyl third but increasing. The situation is described as “dismal”

I would suppose different reservations may have differing levels of the same issues

quote:

Originally posted by Beancooker:
I think getting them more law enforcement is a great idea. There is definitely a need for it.

So yes, let’s start by getting some law enforcement. Then continue with education, specifically alcohol education.

Yes and no, it all depends on where the law enforcement is coming from, their training and their attitude.

When I first started in nursing, I worked in an ER on the edge of the Navajo Rez. We received a patch one night alerting us that tribal police were bringing us an accident victim. Well the tribal police's version of transporting a patient was to place a cervical collar and throw him in the back of his Tahoe and drive an hour to us. Driver was drunk, stuffed his truck in the ditch and both and and his buddy were found in the ditch.

Patient was combative with us and placed into 4 point violent restraints. I started an IV and drew blood. I asked the tribal police officer if he wanted to collect a blood as evidence for DUI prosecution. The response I got was just mind blowing.

"No, he wrecked his truck that's punishment enough."

Yes, more law enforcement might help, but until there is a cultural shift things are not going to change. Having law enforcement that babysits without consequences for actions rather than enforces the law does nothing. That's part of the cultural change that needs to take place.

Education is great but it needs to be valued. When I was in nursing school, Northern Arizona University offered a program to earn a BSN on the Rez. With grants and scholarships, cost to tribal members was nothing. Yes you could earn a Bachelor's of Nursing for free and never have to leave the Rez. How many tribal members were involved in the program when I was there? One. The other 11 spots were all other students from NAU who didn't make the cut for nursing school. They were all paying their own way to dive 4 hours out to Ft. Defiance, stay in motel rooms and pay for food in order to attend classes.

So one group has it given to them for free and doesn't value it, the other recognizes the worth in education and works their ass off to earn a degree.

I stand by my statement, until there is a cultural change, nothing is going to change. How to bring that change about, I have no idea.

2000Z-71, really glad to see you back. I definitely missed seeing you around. Thanks for the reply. While I want to say more, it’s time for this old guy to sleep.

What article are you all reading that adding police is going to equate solving every one of the reservations problems?

The article I am reading here is simply saying crime has gone up so they need more officers. It sounds like the government made a treaty many years ago that either needs to be met or revisited?

No adding more officers will not solve anything, but 6 officers covering an area the size of Connecticut, filled with destitute and despair like nothing Connecticut has ever seen, certainly can be helpful in some aspects by adding more.
My understanding is that the cartels are beginning to operate with some note on the reservation. Yes, that is exactly what we want. Cartels operating inside the physical US borders absosultelt uncontrolled.

2000Z-71 is correct in some aspects and Beancooker is correct when he talked about education. That program 2000Z-71 is nice and all but in reality how many individuals on the reservation are even capable of that level of education?

It needs to be built from the bottom which no one has ever been able to do in any solid form. I don’t know the best answer either but that does not mean adjusting or helping with more officers is a bad or worthless idea.