Interior Dept. Law Enforcement Report Urges Help with Staffing, Changes to Improve Accountability
A new report contains recommendations to improve public trust, accountability, collaboration, and wellness among law enforcement officers in the Department of the Interior (DOI).
The report was written by the Department’s Law Enforcement Task Force (LETF), which was established in 2021 by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and led by Deputy Secretary Tommy Boudreau. The task force was launched after several incidents involving DOI law enforcement, including the 2017 killing of an accountant in Virginia by U.S. Park Police.
To compile the report, the task force held listening sessions, engaged with Tribal stakeholders, issued internal and external questionnaires, and invited public comment.
The goal was to improve public trust and officer accountability, as well as reviewing needs surrounding recruitment, retention, training, and the well-being of officers who serve across DOI in the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Park Service.
“I am grateful for the leadership of Deputy Secretary Beaudreau and the members of the Task Force who have spent months listening to the public and our workforce to develop recommendations that will help ensure law enforcement officers have what they need to do their job and help the Department lead the way towards community-centered law enforcement that ensures transparency and accountability,” said Secretary Haaland.
The task force made 12 recommendations in three categories: improving public trust, a healthy and effective DOI law enforcement workforce, and DOI law enforcement program effectiveness.
Staffing and Well-Being Challenges
Many of the recommendations focused on the need to improve the workplace environment for DOI officers.
The report noted that staffing is a major challenge, with the lack of adequate staffing contributing to stress and mental health challenges. More than 90 percent of current DOI law enforcement officers “believe current staffing levels have impacted their safety on the job.”
DOI is urged to make workloads more manageable for officers to increase safety, lower stress, and ultimately improve retention rates.
DOI is also urged to boost compensation packages and use targeted recruitment strategies to attract a diverse and capable workforce, which the report says is “vitally important to building and sustaining credibility and trust with the public.”
In fact, the report singled out diversity as an area where DOI law enforcement needs to improve.
“There is general agreement that the demographics of the DOI law enforcement workforce do not appropriately reflect the diversity of the populations they serve,” the report said.
The task force also recommended a department-wide staffing analysis.
Improving Public Trust
Regarding trust, the task force urged DOI law enforcement to be proactive in its relationship with the communities they serve, have ongoing dialogue about positive accomplishments, and establish protocols for minimizing delays in crisis communications.
The report recommends that DOI improve its field communications to keep pace with technology and to increase coverage to remote areas, where officers find themselves disconnected from current networks.
In addition, the task force noted a need to consolidate existing law enforcement data systems to “increase the effectiveness of managing and sharing crime data, evidence, and information about ongoing investigations across all of DOI’s law enforcement programs.”
Still, the report is being met with some criticism.
Representative Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Ranking Member on the House Natural Resources Committee, said it doesn’t go far enough, particularly on civil rights protections or enforcing accountability.
“I appreciate the department’s vision for building community trust and supporting officer wellness, but I expect to see a more concrete, specific plan for enforcing accountability and protecting the rights of those who have been disproportionately policed and harmed at the hands of law enforcement in the task force’s future activities,” said Rep. Grijalva.