ODANAH, Wis. (AP) — The fatal shooting of a 14-year-old boy by a sheriff’s deputy on a northern Wisconsin reservation has renewed discussions over whether the tribe should be policing itself.
Eighth-grader Jason Pero was killed by an Ashland County deputy about a month ago outside his home on Bad River Band reservation. State investigators say the boy approached the deputy with a butcher knife and refused commands to drop it.
At a community meeting Thursday night on the reservation, tribal members talked about how the shooting further strained the relationship with the sheriff’s department.
Deputies patrol the reservation with input from the tribal police commission.
KBJR-TV reports the tribal council said bringing back its own police department would cost about $1 million. Tribal member Tom Deragon says the Bad River’s future is in governing and policing itself.
