October 6, 2008
U.S. ATTORNEY TO DELIVER REMARKS AT NATIONAL NATIVE AMERICAN LAW ENFORCEMENT ASSOCIATION’S ANNUAL CONVENTION THIS WEEK
Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Ute both to be recognized for public safety efforts
LAS VEGAS – United States Attorney Troy Eid will deliver a keynote address at the National Native American Law Enforcement Association’s (NNALEA) annual convention this week in Las Vegas. Eid will be speaking about the Colorado U.S. Attorney’s Office “Criminal Justice in Indian Country” training program. Also at the conference, the two sovereign Indian nations headquartered in Colorado – the Southern Ute Indian Tribe and the Ute Mountain Ute Indian Tribe – will be honored for their efforts to strengthen public safety.
Since February 2007, Colorado’s U.S. Attorney’s Office – in partnership with the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, the National Congress of American Indians, and the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in New Mexico and South Dakota – has successfully trained more than 300 tribal, state and local law enforcement officers to investigate violent crimes on Indian reservations. Many of these officers have been federally deputized to enforce federal criminal laws in Indian Country.
The goal of the training is to strengthen public safety in Indian reservations. Qualified law enforcement officers who complete the class and pass the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Special Law Enforcement Commission (“SLEC”) exam are eligible to be federally deputized in order to enforce federal law in Indian Country. Once federally deputized by the BIA, officers holding SLEC cards can make federal arrests – for instance, in cases where a non-Indian defendant commits a violent crime against a Native American victim on an Indian reservation.
Janelle Doughty, Director of the Department of Justice and Regulatory Affairs for the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, will receive NNALEA’s Public Safety Director of the Year Award. Doughty, an enrolled Tribal member and graduate of the University of Denver, was the catalyst for creating Colorado’s Criminal Justice in Indian Country training program. Doughty last month testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on how the program is fighting crime on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation.
The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe will receive the Law Enforcement Unity Award for strengthening public safety in Southwestern Colorado over the past two years. Chairman Ernest House, Sr. will accept the award on behalf of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe.
“Janelle Doughty’s inspirational leadership has made Southwestern Colorado safer,” said U.S. Attorney Troy Eid. “It’s great to see the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute Indian Tribes receive this well-deserved national attention.”
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