Crime In ND Oil Boomtowns Now So Bad The FBI Is Stepping In

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North Dakota’s oil production began growing in the mid-2000s, when companies figured out how to extract oil from the state’s Bakken region. Around 2010, production in the state skyrocketed, and that boom brought in throngs of workers from around the county — a population increase that, as Thornton said, also brought with it an increase in crime. According to the Washington Post, violent crime in the state’s oil-rich Williston Basin region increased by 121 percent between 2005 and 2011. Drug use and prostitution are also prevalent.

“It’s not Mayberry anymore,” North Dakota U.S. Attorney Tim Purdon told the AP earlier this year. “Our police and prosecutors are going to have to adapt to keep pace. We have organized criminal gangs selling drugs, sex trafficking, and out-of-state flim-flam men coming in. And the cases have become more and more complicated.”

One town in North Dakota — Watford City — has grown its police force from just four policemen in 2010 to 19 this year. The town experienced just 41 calls for police service in 2006, while in 2014, it experienced 7,414. “There used to be a saying that 40 below keeps out the riff-raff,” said Steve Kukowski, a sheriff in Ward County, North Dakota. “That’s not true anymore.” Lawmakers from North Dakota, including Rep. Kevin Cramer (R) and Sen. John Hoeven (R) praised the FBI’s announcement.

Ed. - Looks to me like they're looking for a handout in the way of assistance from Teh Evil Federal Gubmint. Bootstraps, boys, bootstraps.

Along with drug-related and violent crime, North Dakota’s oil boom has also brought with it crime related directly to oil infrastructure. Last year, police found a huge stockpile of illegally dumped radioactive oil socks — nets that are used in the oil production process — in an abandoned North Dakota gas station. Some oil and wastewater spills, which have been on the rise since the boom, have also been suspected to have been caused by criminal activity. Oil company Hess Corp. said in February that it suspected two large wastewater spills that month could have been caused by vandalism.

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http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/03/06/3630643/fbi-comes-to-the-oil-fields/