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Our View: Tribes, counties should work together to curb DUIs

Rocky Boy, Fort Belknap and two other Native American reservations in Montana don’t supply state and county officials with information on drunken-driving arrests made on their reservations.

The Associated Press did a story this week that explains how this means that repeat DUI offenders don’t have their records available to state and county officials.

For instance, if a person is convicted twice at Rocky Boy for drunken driving, and then gets busted on a state highway, Hill County officials would not know of the prior arrests. Therefore, the offender would not be subject to the more severe penalties that off-reservation people face.

Reservations are sovereign nations, and it appears that tribal governments are well within their rights to withhold the information.

But having the right is a far cry from being right. We hope reservations change the policy as part of an increasing effort to crack down on repeat drunken drivers.

In recent years, there has been a welcome awakening by Montana authorities about the dangers of drunken driving. For years, state laws were very lax, In cases of police officers vs. intoxicated drivers, the drunks had a leg up. This was especially the case when repeat offenders were arrested. They knew their way around the system, and often got off scot-free or with a slap on the wrist.

Recent legislation has given authorities at least an even playing field in their efforts to make highways safer.

And some reports indicate that there are some successes in reducing DUI-related accidents.

Better communications between tribal police and other authorities would only improve matter, ensuring that repeat offenders get what is coming to them.

Despite the efforts of tribal and off-reservation police officers, too many people are driving drunk and endangering other motorists.

If tribal, state and county officials work together, they can make a dent in the numbers of drunken drivers, making our streets and highways safer for everyone.

 

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