Colorado U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper and U.S. Representative Jeff Hurd urged the Department of the Interior (DOI) Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs, William Kirkland, to evaluate the law enforcement capacity needed to keep tribal members and the community safe on the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe’s Reservation. 

“The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, primarily located in southwest Colorado and with boundaries extending into northern New Mexico and southeast Utah, prides itself on its sovereignty and self-reliance. However, the Tribe has struggled to ensure that its members are safe in their communities – and in their own homes. The Reservation’s remote nature, including an approximately 75-mile distance between the Tribe’s police station in Towaoc and its satellite community of White Mesa, Utah, contributes to delayed response times and inadequate policing,” wrote the lawmakers.  

Tribal representatives told the lawmakers that there is only one law enforcement officer from the federal government, and one law enforcement officer employed by the Tribe patrolling the nearly 600,000-acre reservation. The lawmakers stressed that over the last two years, violent crime has increased on the Reservation. In the absence of a proper law enforcement presence, the Tribe is concerned that violent crime will continue to persist and only intensify.  

“It is the legal responsibility of the United States government to fulfill its trust obligations to the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and protect its resources and its tribal members. A 90-day analysis to determine the law enforcement capacity needed at the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation is essential to determining tribal and community law enforcement needs and will give the Tribe the ability to plan for future resource needs,” concluded the lawmakers.