Law and order on South Dakota's Indian reservations didn't need this problem.

There are countless issues of crime, failures of justice and lack of public safety facing the people who live on many of America's Indian reservations. We were especially disheartened to learn of another self-inflicted one.

Nearly 300 criminal cases have been dismissed to date from tribal courts on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in south-central South Dakota because of allegations that tribal police officers had invalid or expired police commissions. In those cases, defense attorneys argued, the lack of current commissions meant the arresting or investigating officer could not act in that official role. The issue threatens to affect at least three federal court cases.

Tribal ordinance requires the commissions be renewed every two years, but former tribal president Charles Colombe signed and extended them indefinitely. The officers believed they were carrying valid cards.

The bungling of administrative paperwork raises serious questions about management, and the resignation of Rosebud Sioux Tribe Police Chief Charles Red Crow was a necessary step in restoring trust in the department.

But the bigger issue here is the erosion of public trust in the entire reservation justice system.

A more important step in addressing that problem will be for tribes to create truly independent judiciaries, as the Oglala Sioux Tribe has the oppportunity to do in its April 22 Secretarial election.

Additionally, more federal resources aimed at improving public safety on reservations should help.

In U.S. Senate action, an amendment to the 2009 federal budget by Sen. John Thune seeks an additional $200 million over the next five years to be spent on improving public safety on America's reservations.

Those dollars include $25 million per year for tribal law enforcement, tribal court systems and tribal detention centers, plus $15 million a year for extra U.S. Attorneys to prosecute crimes on reservations.

Certainly, law enforcement and court systems on reservations need adequate funding and impartial judges.

But none of those changes, and no amount of extra money, will do much good if managerial mishaps like the non-commissioning of tribal police officers continue to happen.