Public Safety & Law Enforcement Partnerships

Public Safety

Cooperative efforts to ensure public safety is a priority of the Department of Tribal Relations. The Department, working with the South Dakota Highway Patrol and Department of Public Safety's Office of Emergency Management, has endeavored to develop strong working relationships with tribal government leaders and tribal law enforcement agencies to ensure that effective public safety is provided to all South Dakota citizens across the state both on reservations and off reservations. To that end, the Department of Tribal Relations regularly works with numerous state agencies and offices assisting them in their work with tribal governments and tribal public safety agencies to provide services to tribal member state citizens throughout South Dakota. Some of these activities include:

• Assist the Office of Emergency Management during declared disasters to communicate with tribal emergency managers and aid in response efforts throughout Indian Country within South Dakota.
• Work with the Law Enforcement Training Academy housed within the Attorney General Office's Division of Criminal Investigations to provide training positions for tribal law enforcement officer trainees within training cohorts throughout the year.
• Assist the Department of Public Safety and Highway Patrol to work with willing tribal government partners in development of Memorandums of Understanding for cooperative law enforcement or parole services.