PHOENIX (AP) – The top federal prosecutor in Arizona called together leaders from 22 Indian tribes on Tuesday as part of an effort to boost coordination among various agencies responsible for Indian Country law enforcement.

The meeting in Phoenix was called by U.S. attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke to let tribal leaders know that the Justice Department is serious about a crackdown on reservation crime and increasing resources for federal prosecutions.

“We have literally put the best people in our office to work on tribal issues,” Burke said.

Just as important, Burke said, is helping both federal prosecutors and tribal officials learn how to navigate the often complex relationship among federal, state and tribal courts and the host of police and prosecuting agencies that can be involved in criminal cases.

Often, federal prosecutors don’t clearly tell tribal prosecutors and police why they decline to file serious charges, Burke said. Most of the time it is because there are evidence issues. But failing to tell tribes why the case wasn’t prosecuted means those problems are repeated in future cases.

The time it takes to prosecute in federal court also leads to frustration at the tribal level.

“It seems to take forever to get some of these cases handled, so the perception is that nothing is being done,” said Hopi councilman Mike Puhuyesva.

Attorney General Eric Holder in January told U.S. attorneys with jurisdictions that include Indian lands to develop plans to address public safety and submit them to the tribes and his office. The push was championed by President Barack Obama during his campaign, prompted by statistics showing that American Indians are more than twice as likely than other citizens to be violent crime victims.

The relationship between tribal and federal governments is complex in criminal matters, and state courts are also sometimes involved. Tribes generally prosecute minor crimes, with felony and violent crimes handled by the U.S. attorney’s office.

Burke said he’s told his prosecutors to communicate more, spend time in tribal courts to learn the system and to help with training when problems are identified. He’s also added prosecutors and wants some of at least 35 new assistant prosecutors the federal government plans to assign to handle reservation crime.

Tribal leaders and police officials said there is a clear need for more federal law help, whether on reservations adjacent to urban areas like the Salt River-Pima Indian Community east of Scottsdale or on the Tohono O’Odham Nation along the border with Mexico.

“We’re not dealing with simple cases of public intoxication,” said Tohono O’Odham Chairman Ned Norris Jr. “We’re dealing with a high level of cartel violence just south of the Tohono O’Odham Nation.”

At the end of the day, the bottom line for Burke and tribal leaders is improved coordination and not recrimination.

“It’d be easy to point fingers and accuse somebody else of not doing their job,” Colorado River Indian Tribes police chief and council member Richard Armstrong said. “But at the end of the day, that doesn’t solve anything.”

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On the Net:

U.S. attorney for Arizona, http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/

Intertribal Council of Arizona, http://www.itcaonline.com/