Eds: APNewsNow.

Bismarck, N.D. (AP) North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan says American Indian Reservations across the country will be getting $25.7 million to increase the number of tribal law enforcement officers.

Dorgan says the Standing Rock Sioux, Spirit Lake Sioux and the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa will recieve a total of $3.6 million from the Bureau of Indian Affairs to battle crime on North Dakota reservations.

Dorgan is the chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee.

He says crime levels on some Indian reservations are at "epidemic proportions." Dorgan says a temporary increase in the number of police officers on the Standing Rock reservation earlier this year helped curb violent crime there. The reservation straddles the North Dakota-South Dakota border.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APNP 09-09-08 1610CDT | save this article / add to your favorites list