As WA tribes combat MMIWP crisis and fentanyl trafficking, Parity for Tribal Law Enforcement Parity Act would help them hire and retain tribal law enforcement officers
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs voted to advance U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell’s (D-WA) Parity for Tribal Law Enforcement Act (S. 2695). Sen. Cantwell’s bill would help tribal police departments hire and retain tribal law enforcement officers by providing access to federal retirement, pension, death, and injury benefits on par with law enforcement officers from non-tribal jurisdictions.
“Tribes need more law enforcement officers to fight both the fentanyl and murdered and missing indigenous people epidemics and to respond to emergencies in their communities,” said Sen. Cantwell. “The Parity for Tribal Law Enforcement Act will help tribal communities get the law enforcement resources they need to keep their communities safe.”
Sen. Cantwell introduced the Parity for Tribal Law Enforcement Act in July 2023. The bipartisan bill was first considered at a U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing on May 1, 2024. During a hearing on the fentanyl crisis in Indian Country later that month, Sen. Cantwell pressed federal officials about the need to help tribes hire and keep more tribal law enforcement officers and highlighted several tribes in Washington state that urgently need more resources to improve chronic understaffing issues.
“According to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, tribal communities need over 13,600 additional law enforcement personnel just to meet the FBI’s Community Safe standard. So that means that many tribes do not have enough law enforcement to tackle these big problems like fentanyl or murdered and missing indigenous people,” Sen. Cantwell said at the May 2024 committee hearing. Video of Sen. Cantwell’s remarks from that hearing is available HERE.
Sen. Cantwell is a strong advocate for increasing the presence of tribal law enforcement officers on reservations to help combat the fentanyl epidemic and Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and People (MMIWP) crisis among Native communities.
In October 2023, Sen. Cantwell sent a letter to the leaders of the U.S. Senate Indians Affairs Committee requesting that the committee hold an oversight hearing on how to address the fentanyl crisis in Indian Country. Soon after, the committee announced two hearings on the topic. At the November 2023 hearing titled: “Fentanyl in Native Communities: Native Perspectives on Addressing the Growing Crisis,” Sen. Cantwell invited Lummi Nation Chairman Anthony Hillarie to testify.
“What I feel and hear, particularly, Mr. Chairman, from the Lummi, is that without the adequate tribal law enforcement resources, I almost feel like Indian Country is being targeted. That people know that you don’t have the law enforcement, that you don’t have the capabilities, and that’s where people are setting up shop,” Sen. Cantwell said at the November 2023 hearing. Video of Sen. Cantwell’s remarks from that hearing is available HERE.
One month later, Vanessa Waldref, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, and Glen Melville, Deputy Bureau Director at the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Office of Justice Services and member of the Makah Tribe, participated in the second hearing titled: “Fentanyl in Native Communities: Examining the Federal Response to the Growing Crisis.” At the hearing, both Waldref and Melville commented that fentanyl traffickers often target tribal lands due to lack of tribal law enforcement. Video of Sen. Cantwell’s Q&A with Waldref and Melville from that hearing is available HERE.
Since August 2023, Sen. Cantwell has announced over $23 million in federal funding to help local and tribal communities in Washington state combat the fentanyl crisis.
A summary of Sen. Cantwell’s legislative leadership to combat the fentanyl epidemic is available HERE. A summary of Sen. Cantwell’s legislative leadership to combat the MMIWP crisis is available HERE.
###