Source: US FBI
“The FBI is not new in this game,” said Special Agent in Charge Gray. “We’ve been prioritizing crimes against Native Americans for a very long time.”
Investigating crimes, however, can’t be accomplished by the FBI alone. The Bureau relies on established partnerships with Native American law enforcement agencies to bring cases to a close. The FBI has 22 Safe Trails Task Forces with over 150 agents investigating crimes committed on about 200 reservations nationwide.
When the panel’s moderator suggested the FBI and other federal agencies may still be greeted with suspicion by tribal communities—since federal laws created many of the difficult conditions on reservations—the Osage Nation’s Standing Bear chimed in.
“Things have changed, thank God,” said Standing Bear, whose tribe has over 20,000 registered members and about 6,800 still living in the Osage Nation’s territory in Northern Oklahoma. “We have a working relationship with the FBI and our police. Osage Nation Police works on cases, joint investigations with the FBI. It’s a different world now.”
Bill Anoatubby, governor of the Chickasaw Nation, agreed.
“It’s a mutual respect,” he said. “They’re there to help us. We need them. So, it’s important to have them around. And they’ve helped us over the years on many, many cases.”
Gray said the relationship between Native American tribal leaders and law enforcement is stronger than ever before.
The FBI, he said, will be “in the community, working these crimes with rigor, with the tenacity and the professionalism from the start, and building that trust in the community.”