DENVER—Colorado will get another federal prosecutor who will be assigned to the U.S. attorney’s office in Durango, Colorado’s U.S. Attorney Troy Eid said Monday.
The additional prosecutor, who hasn’t been named yet, will join two already working in the Durango office. They prosecute federal crimes in southwestern Colorado as well as crimes on the region’s two Indian reservations—the Southern Ute and the Ute Mountain Ute reservations.
Colorado has a total of over 65 federal prosecutors.
Eid said Colorado was awarded the extra position because of his office’s leadership on Indian issues in southwestern Colorado.
Normally, only tribal police and Bureau of Indian Affairs authorities are able to enforce the law on reservations. But Eid has worked with the two tribes to train local, state and other federal authorities so they can also issue federal citations.
So far, over 80 officers have been cross-deputized and the U.S. Department of Justice has decided to use it as a model to improve law enforcement on reservations elsewhere, said Jeff Dorschner, a spokesman for Eid’s office.
The Ute Mountain Ute reservation has had six murders in the last two years, a murder rate of three for every 1,000 people.
U.S. Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., praised the move, saying the region has suffered from a lack of federal law enforcement in the area.
“We must continue to improve the quality and presence of law enforcement on the reservations and federal enclaves of our region,” Salazar said in a written statement.
