Big, fast money in the oil fields of western North Dakota are also bringing a lot of big crime to a state previously known for farms, ranches, and some very good hunting and fishing.
AML Partners’ Risk Data Services tool now ranks formerly sleepy little Williston, ND, as medium risk for HIDTA (High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area) activity. Census data for Williston in 2010 counted fewer than 15,000 residents, but last year that had more than doubled to nearly 33,000 residents, and it’s expected to climb by another 10,000 in the next three years.
This influx of out-staters into Williston and the surrounding area has brought a relative flood of criminal activity, too. Criminal investigations into drug running, prostitution, fraud, money laundering, human trafficking, murder for hire, murder, and sexual assault now pepper the news. This growing criminal element has joined the influx of oil-field workers and investors seeking to cash in on the meteoric rise in profits from oil extraction from shale made possible by fracking and horizontal-drilling technologies.
Bloomberg and Huffington Post today profiled a recent high-profile morass of murder, money laundering, and fraud. Both stories highlight the rough-and-tumble nature of booming oil fields, get-rich-quick schemers, spikes in drugs and prostitution, contested land leases, out-of-thin-air businesses, protected tribal lands, and the press for and on investors.
State and federal officials are struggling with resources and strategies to stem the criminal activity tied to the oil boom. The FBI, the ND Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and local police and sheriffs’ departments are working together to coordinate enforcement of laws and prosecution of crimes.
Bismarck (ND) Tribune columnist Clay Jenkinson mocks the assertion that the skyrocketing numbers of serious crime are simply “growing pains” in a booming economy. At the very least, the cultural shift for western North Dakota presents a massive challenge for longtime residents, new arrivals, and authorities and lawmakers.
Moreover, institutions like banks have high stakes in serving the legitimate businesses associated with the boom and excluding the soaring criminal profits that appear to be thriving in this newly wild Midwest. And for financial institutions, emphases on HIDTA/HIFCA data, KYC (CDD), and behavioral monitoring will be especially important.
