Lighthorse officers cited for Standing Rock, Pine Ridge service

By: Dana Hudspeth, Chickasaw Tribal Media Relations

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            The Chickasaw Nation Lighthorse Police Department and several of its officers were recently honored for their cooperative peacekeeping efforts during a mission to Standing Rock Sioux and Pine Ridge Reservations.

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            Nine Lighthorse officers received a Special Agent in Charge (SAC) award from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) district one office for participating in Operation Dakota Peacekeeping and Pine Ridge Peacekeeper.
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Officers Dusk Monetathchi, Clint Sutton, Justin Smith, Randi Conn, Brad Holloway, Allison Orr, George Jesse, Vincent Walters and Steve Cash were recognized.

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The Lighthorse officers responded to a request for assistance in 2008. Nine officers made the trip to help, each spending an average of 30 days working on the reservations.

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Pine Ridge is the eighth largest reservation in the country and one of the poorest. The crime rate is high, which made the officers’ job a challenge.

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Standing Rock, located in North and South Dakota, is the sixth-largest reservation.

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Three official from the BIA office of Law Enforcement Services traveled to Ada to present the award. BIA Special Agent in Charge Elmer J. Four Dance, of the Aberdeen, S.D. district; W. Patrick Ragsdale, BIA Law Enforcement Director; and Mike McCoy, BIA Special Agent for the Muskogee area, were on hand to thank the officers.

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The SAC award is the highest honor a district office can give, Mr. Four Dance said.

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The operation was initiated last year at Standing Rock and Pine Ridge Reservation in response to increasing crime, which made the communities feel unsafe.

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BIA officers suffered from a lack of manpower on the reservation and requested help from tribal agencies. At the time, there were relatively few law enforcement officers to cover the approximately five million acres of the combined reservations’ area.

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“We felt it was critical to do something and get an insurgence of law enforcement in there to get a handle on it,” Mr. Four Dance said.

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“It was a very busy time and we appreciate you coming up to assist. We have received nothing but compliments about Chickasaw Nation officers from the citizens.”

The operations ran from August through December of 2008 and made a huge difference in bother reservations. Community members, Mr. Four Dance said, now say they feel safe and crime is down at both reservations.

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“We could no have accomplished this without our partners. The law enforcement and the community embraced the officer who was there.”

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The officers received a SAC award which honored the officer who has through dedicated service, personified the utmost standards of professionalism, character, and integrity, in service to the citizens of Indian Country within the District I Office of Law Enforcement Services.

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In Oklahoma, the Cherokee, Sac and Fox, Choctaw, and Comanche Tribal Police also assisted with the operation.

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This cooperative effort marks the first time a variety of tribal police have responded to a mission on a national bases.

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The Lighthorse Police Department also received a Policing Partnership Award.

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Chickasaw Nation Lighthorse police chief Jason O’Neal was noted on the award as one “who has strived for positive cooperation, tireless support, and whose leadership is applauded for promoting a professional working relationship with the Office of Law Enforcement Services. Your contribution greatly improves out service to Indian Country.”

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For more information about Lighthorse Police, log on to http://www.chickasaw.net .

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