Oglala Sioux Tribe sues U.S. over policing on Pine Ridge

The Oglala Sioux Tribe filed a federal lawsuit Oct. 17 in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota, Western Division, alleging the U.S. has failed to meet treaty and statutory duties to provide adequate law enforcement on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

The defendants are the United States, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Bureau of Indian Affairs leaders. The tribe asks the court to order the government to provide sufficient law enforcement resources. “There is a complete lack of adequate and effective law enforcement within the Tribe's Reservation, and the impacts to the Tribe and its members have been and continue to be catastrophic,” the tribe said in its complaint.

The complaint frames public safety as a treaty and trust obligation — not a discretionary program — rooted in the 1825 Treaty and the Fort Laramie Treaties of 1851 and 1868, and reinforced by later laws including the Snyder Act and the Indian Law Enforcement Reform Act of 1990.

According to the filing, only 33 officers and eight investigators currently serve Pine Ridge, far below federal benchmarks that would require as many as 150 officers, depending on the population used. The tribe cites the BIA’s minimum of 2.8 officers per 1,000 residents and ties the shortfall to federal funding decisions.