Meskwakis receive $373,000 public safety grant

The Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi has received a $373,511 grant to use for public safety and community policing.

'Improving public safety and protecting vulnerable victims in all of our communities remains a priority for my office and the Department of Justice,” U.S. Attorney Peter Deegan Jr. said last week.

'Any time we can provide law enforcement resources to the tribe, it's a good thing,” he said. 'The overall mission is keep the community safe.”

Federal authorities have jurisdiction over Indian lands, and Deegan's office prosecutes the more serious crimes on the Meskwaki Settlement near Tama and works with the tribal leaders and Meskwaki Nation Police Department on law enforcement issues.

Tribal leaders will use the grant in its natural resources department, which has implemented a 10-year plan to protect, preserve and restore the natural and environmental resources of the Sac and Fox Tribe, according to the Office of the Attorney General for the Meskwaki Nation.

The grant comes from more than $113 million in awards the U.S. Department of Justice made to American Indian and Alaska Native communities.

Overall, the grants are to improve public safety, serve victims of crime, combat violence against women and support youth programs.

The grants went to 133 Indian tribes, Alaska Native villages and other tribal designees.

In addition, the department is in the process of allocating up to $133 million for the first time to set up programs that will serve victims of crime in tribal communities. The awards are intended to help tribes develop, expand and improve services to victims of crime by providing funding, programming and technical assistance. 

Those recipients will be announced soon.

'With these awards, we are doubling the amount of grant funding devoted to public safety programs and serving victims of crime in Native American communities,” said Acting Associate U.S. Attorney General Jesse Panuccio said during remarks last week at the 26th Annual Four Corners Indian Country Conference in Santa Fe, N.M.

'There is an unacceptable level of violent crime and domestic abuse in American Indian and Alaska Native communities,” he said.

'This increase in resources, together with our aggressive investigation and prosecution of crimes, shows how seriously Attorney General Sessions and the entire Department of Justice take these issues,” he said.

'We are committed to reducing violent crime and improving public safety.”

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