Initial Report and Recommendations - Alaska Department of Law

• Developing voluntary memoranda of understanding between tribes and the Staterelating to issues such as coordination and integration of child protection anddomestic violence protective services.The Commission believes that the complex issues surrounding delivery of justiceand law enforcement in rural Alaska are both chronic and of highest importance. Astanding commission can both monitor and evaluate progress being made on theimplementation of the recommendations contained in this report and study and appraiseadditional recommendations and changes related to justice and law enforcement in ruralAlaska that may become necessary in the future. The importance of a continuingpresence to monitor and track this Commission’s recommendations is expressed well intestimony that the Commission heard in Kotzebue:“Having been through this process [a commission studying problems in ruralAlaska] before, I understand the limits. But it doesn’t make any difference because wehad the same process years ago. The Canadian Judge 56 came up and went to everyvillage and went into houses and everything else and got detailed reports from people.Nobody listened to that.“It went through the Alaska Natives Commission as testimony, like you did. Weworked with committees that held hearings all over the place on different subjects likeyou’re doing. And we put out a report and it took years before anybody looked at it andwhen they did – when Congress did and provided funds – our people didn’t know what todo with the funds. So we gave up the funds.”John W. SchaefferNANA Regional Elders CouncilThe Commission contemplated a recommendation that would have called for apilot project authorizing participant tribes to enact and enforce laws regulating alcoholsale, importation and possession within the boundaries of the respective village. TheCommission did not include this recommendation in its interim report. During the publiccomment period on the draft interim report, numerous organizations and individualsurged the Commission to include this recommendation. We understand the criticalimportance of local regulation and control of alcohol. Alcohol continues to have adevastating impact on rural Alaska. We intend to specifically and intensively review andact on this issue in the next phase of the Commission’s work. In making thiscommitment, we are mindful that this is a highly charged issue that involves competingviews of sovereignty that must be confronted. There are also complex on-the-groundrelationships that need to be addressed.The Commission’s other recommendations are presented, by theme, in thefollowing section.56Thomas Berger, whose visits to Alaska and review of the impacts of the Alaska Native ClaimsSettlement Act are chronicled in Berger, Thomas R., Village Journey: The Report of the Alaska NativeReview Commission. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1985.Alaska Rural Justice and Law Enforcement Commission - Page 41