Chief Allan: ‘We’re not all the same color, but we all want the same thing: Public safety’
Chief Allan, chairman of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe, was sitting in the audience as the House Judiciary Committee voted unanimously today to introduce legislation proposed by the tribe regarding cooperation with tribal law enforcement agencies. "I know there has been a lot of misinformation out there, and now we have a chance to really separate the facts from the fiction," Allan said. "I think ... at the end of the day, they'll do the right thing."
The legislation encourages Idaho tribes and county sheriffs to negotiate and reach cooperative agreements for law enforcement within reservations; if an agreement isn't reached after six months of negotiations, tribal police officers could begin enforcing state laws on the reservation if they meet certain requirements, including being state-certified, sending all cases to state courts, and that the tribe carry liability insurance and waive its sovereign immunity so it can be sued in cases of officer wrongdoing. Opponents have bombarded lawmakers with messages saying the move would subject non-tribal members to tribal courts and remove sheriffs' authority. The measure doesn't require cross-deputization, and it also provides that tribal police agencies bear all their own costs, and don't collect a share of fines from their arrests of non-tribal members for state offenses. "We had opposition, but they were just misinformed, because they were flooded with so much misinformation," Allan said. "But now the real work starts. ... We're not all the same color, but we all want the same thing: Public safety. ... That's been our policy from Day 1."
The Coeur d'Alene Tribe had cross-deputization agreements with both Kootenai and Benewah counties, but the Benewah County sheriff revoked that county's agreement in 2007. Now, the tribe contends criminals are going free because its officers on the Benewah County portion of its reservation are stopping drunken drivers and being called to crime scenes, but can't make arrests of non-tribal members, and sheriff's officers aren't showing up to make the arrests for them.
