Rosebud no longer part of FBI drug task force

Bob Perry ROSEBUD - The memorandum of understanding between the Rosebud Law Enforcement Services and the Northern Plains Safe Trails Drug Enforcement Task Force expired on January 30, 2009. "We have technically pulled out of the MOU, unless the Tribal Council wants to do something about it," stated RST President Rodney Bordeaux.

Last week the Supervisory Federal Bureau of Investigation Agent Bob Perry attended a Tribal Council meeting to urge officials to enter into a new agreement. Perry was accompanied by US Attorney Marty Jackley and Assistant US Attorney Randy Seiler.

"I don't see how removing yourself from the task force would improve things," stated Perry. "I'm asking that you don't give up, don't send the wrong signal, withdrawing now could affect your future desire to be part of the task force again as it is a long drawn out process to get on."

"The police department is very shorthanded. We tried to pull the officer assigned to the task force back into regular patrol but he said he has to be dedicated to the task force," stated Chief of Police Robert Sedlmajer who believes the MOU

Charles Ginsbach should be based on a government to government relationship. "The last MOU was signed by the former chief of police; the Tribal Council should enter into another MOU not the chief of police. We do need all our people right now taking care of business at home here in Rosebud; we need help on the day to day shift."

The officer assigned to the task force "lived in Lower Brule. We supplied him with a vehicle and never saw him, when we withdrew from the MOU he quit his job fifteen minutes later," stated Rosebud Criminal Investigator Charles Ginsbach. "If we were to have an MOU with the task force the officer needs to be here, not in Pine Ridge or Eagle Butte. We need to have control over him or her."

Currently the Task Force is composed of fifteen members. According to the FBI website the task force is "a multi agency entity comprised of representatives of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Division of Criminal Investigation, the Pine Ridge, Rosebud, and Cheyenne River Indian Reservations, Pierre Police Department and numerous other law enforcement agencies from around South Dakota. The task force targets serious drug traffickers on and off Indian Reservations in South Dakota recognizing these dealers don't recognize reservation borders.

Robert Sedlmajer According to a graph distributed to the tribal council, the task force charged the following with drug offenses during the time period 1999- 2008: Rosebud - 143, Pine Ridge - 145, Eagle Butte - 60, Lower Brule - 33, Standing Rock - 20, Pierre - 186, State - 119, and Crow Creek - 23.

During 2006-2008 the numbers were as follows: Rosebud - 55, Pine Ridge - 67, Eagle Butte - 23, Lower Brule - 4, Standing Rock - 17, Pierre - 11, State - 40, and Crow Creek - 23.

"We have had luck with proactive policing. For example, one officer parked in a marked car next to a known drug dealer's house would be a huge deterrent. Most drug busts come from our own police department, we could be more effective if we had the manpower to assign one officer just to drug patrol," stated Sedlmajer.

"When we are fully staff we can do the work [involved with apprehending drug dealers] ourselves," said Ginsbach. "I am certified to make a federal case." The police department currently has 20 certified patrol officers on staff. There are 11 vacancies for police officers.

"If you leave the task force you lose funding and arrest authority," stated Jackley. "Most of the drugs come from Mexico through Denver, Omaha and Sioux City. They are transported largely by non-Indians. The task force funds the controlled buys, pays for overtime and officers are granted a BIA law enforcement special commission.

These commissions expand the officer's authority to arrest. Think long and hard before you abandon the MOU. Right now, as I speak there are drug transactions happening on Rosebud."

Rosebud officers will all have the BIA law enforcement special commissions as soon as their background investigations are complete. According to Sedlmajer, BIA officials would not recognize the background investigations done by the Rosebud Tribal investigator. Instead, they insisted on their own officials to complete Rosebud's background investigations.