Tribes get access to US crime databases in push to close gap

Tribes get access to US crime databases in push to close gap

SEATTLE (AP) — Ten American Indian tribes are gaining access to national criminal databases after a deadly shooting in Washington state helped reveal flaws in the way federal authorities and tribal governments share information.





Raymond Fryberg walks out of the Federal Courthouse in Seattle. Several American Indian tribes are gaining access to national criminal databases after a deadly shooting in Washington state helped reveal flaws in the way federal authorities and tribal governments share information, which allowed the member of the Tulalip Tribe, Fryberg, to buy a gun that was later used by his son. The program allows tribes to conduct thorough background checks and enter criminal records, the U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday, Nov. 5, 2015.
November 05, 2015

Tribes can now conduct thorough background checks and add criminal records to the databases, the U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday. It comes after a member of the Tulalip Tribe was able to buy a gun later used by his son to kill four classmates and himself at a high school last year. A domestic violence restraining order issued by a tribal court in 2001 should have stopped the father from buying firearms. "Gaps in data sharing allowed a prohibited person to purchase a handgun and possess it at his home," U.S. Attorney Annette Hayes said. "That gun was used in the school shooting with the tragic consequences that we all now know."

Two tribes from Washington and two from Arizona, plus one each from Oklahoma, North Carolina, Michigan, New York, Oregon and Idaho will take part in the program unveiled at the annual White House Tribal Nations Conference in Washington, D.C.

"This innovative program will allow an unprecedented sharing of critical information between tribal, state and federal governments, information that could help solve a crime or even save someone's life," Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates said.

Tulalip Chairman Melvin Sheldon Jr. said the program will empower tribal law enforcement nationwide by giving them the tools they have sought for years to protect their communities. "It has consistently been our position that having the ability to independently report and access criminal information is the very best way to protect our citizens," he said.

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