Begich seeks cash to boost rural law enforcement

The government would, under a bill filed last month, boost local law enforcement in a handful of Native tribes through a pilot project. While some Native organizations are enthusiastic, the measure has drawn cautious reviews from state government and a negative reaction from one Native group.

The plan aims to strengthen tribal court systems and would be specifically focused on social problems -- drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence, child abuse and neglect.

State government has already placed emphasis on similar items, with Gov. Sean Parnell pushing to expand the Village Public Safety Officer program.

But Begich's bill states that with more than 200 remote villages to serve, the existing public safety network "does not effectively serve" vast rural regions except in response to serious, individual criminal acts. For many rural Alaska Native villages, the bill says, "there is no local law enforcement presence whatsoever."

Under the measure, the "Alaska Safe Families and Villages Act," the U.S. Department of the Interior would oversee the pilot project. Native communities would use federal help to hire village peace officers behind the goal of encouraging local solutions to chronic social problems -- all while recognizing state government's "primary role and responsibility in criminal matters."

Julie Hasquet, a spokeswoman for Begich, said the bill also aims to strengthen a tribal court system that does not always get the support it wants from state government.

Tribal courts are designed to handle a slate of issues -- from child protection, custody and adoption to alcohol regulation and domestic violence -- because state law enforcement "only responds to the most serious offenses in the villages, leaving the less serious ones unaddressed," as put in 1999 by the state Commission on Rural Governance and Empowerment.

Begich, D-Alaska, told reporters Friday the bill is in response to suggestions from Alaska Native groups. He said a new approach with locally driven solutions could prove more effective than the status quo.

"I still believe, today, that more tools in the box is important," Begich said. He said the Anchorage Youth Court system offers an example of successful, outside-the-box efforts to address public safety issues.

But Parnell said, through spokeswoman Sharon Leighow, the state's path is working -- Alaska has almost doubled the number of filled VPSO positions since mid-2008 and will add more by the end of the year. Leighow also said by email that state agencies worry investments in tribal courts and, through them, an "alternative system of justice," would open the door to different outcomes than the current system and its constitutional guarantees. She said using "scarce federal dollars" to replicate an existing judicial system and "duplicate law enforcement efforts" may not be ideal policy.

While the need for more law enforcement in rural Alaska is widely recognized, the topic of tribal sovereignty can be controversial. A decade ago, then-Sen. Ted Stevens landed in hot water by suggesting some Alaska Native groups' attempts at securing "total jurisdiction" over village matters clashed with the broader interest of building a cohesive criminal justice system statewide.

David Harrison, executive director for the Alaska Inter-Tribal Council, said his organization sees the bill as a "veiled attempt" to secure government jurisdiction over criminal and civil matters in rural Alaska.

Hasquet said the bill has "wide support" in the state "and is endorsed by virtually every tribal organization."

Julie Kitka, president of the Alaska Federation of Natives, said last month the federal aid would "empower tribes" to improve rural public safety.

Hasquet said the Bristol Bay Native Association, Tanana Chiefs Conference, Cook Inlet Tribal Council and Kawerak Inc. support the plan.