RAPID CITY, SD — The Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Safety is entering into a historic mutual aid agreement with the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office. The two groups signed the agreement yesterday.
The Pennington County Sheriff says the agreement will help to catch criminals traveling between the jurisdictions. The OST president says the tribe is keeping its sovereignty while cooperating with the surrounding law enforcement.
Some of the mutual aid agreements include:
-Vehicle pursuits traveling on or off the reservation
-Incidents involving special or tactical responses
-Real-time kidnapping
-Search and rescue of missing persons
-Natural disasters
Both the OSTDPS and the PCSO say they see this as an advantageous way to lower crime rate in both jurisdictions.
The memorandum between the OSTDPS and the PCSO is not a cross-deputization agreement. Rather, both parties state that it is a framework to guide cooperation between the two in order to help maintain a lower crime rate and support each other with mutual aid.
