Bill aims to expand tribal cops’ authority

OLYMPIA – A bill that would expand some tribal police officers’ power to arrest non-Indian suspects on reservations is moving quickly in the state Legislature.

Proponents say the bill would speed up police response on reservations, which some say are in danger of becoming “havens” for non-Indian criminals who feel they have little to fear.

The House of Representatives has approved House Bill 2476, and it’s expected to be approved by a Senate committee before a key deadline Friday.

“Right now we have citizens in the state of Washington that like to think of reservations as free zones,” said Rep. John McCoy, D-Marysville, a Tulalip tribal member.

For tribes that want expanded policing authority, McCoy’s bill would grant general law enforcement powers as long as they have the same training, psychological evaluation and polygraph test that other officers undergo. The tribe would also have to provide liability insurance.

Except in cases like hot pursuits or joint operations, the police powers would only apply on-reservation.

Some conservative lawmakers – and nearly every sheriff in the state – are opposed. Some say they worry about accountability and liability. Others note that such agreements already are possible and say the matter should be left up to sheriffs.

“We are circumventing the authority of the local sheriff if we enact this bill, that’s the way I read it,” said Rep. Mike Armstrong, R-Wenatchee.

Mix of jurisdictions

Law enforcement on reservations involves a complex patchwork of jurisdictions. Except for major crimes, which are handled by federal agents, tribal members committing crimes against other tribal members on tribal land typically fall under the jurisdiction of the tribe’s police and courts.

Non-Indian criminals are not subject to tribal courts. In most cases, tribal police can detain non-Indian suspects but cannot arrest them. So they hold them and call for county deputies.

And that’s the problem, McCoy and tribal police say. It can take hours to get a deputy on scene.

McCoy has faced this problem. When a non-Indian burglar broke into his office one night, McCoy said, he bolted from bed and tried to use his truck to block the thief’s pickup from leaving.

“An hour and 45 minutes later, the sheriff showed up,” McCoy told lawmakers. He said he understands that county deputies are busy. But if tribal police are available, he said, they should be able to make an arrest and investigate the crime.

“I view it as equal protection under the law,” McCoy said.

Some tribes already do this. Colville tribal police have been commissioned as Okanogan and Ferry county deputies for years and have the same law enforcement powers as other deputies. With the tribe’s 25 commissioned officers covering everyone on the reservation, the counties save time and money, said Cory Orr, assistant chief of the Colville Tribal Police Department.

“In my view, it enhances the sovereignty of the tribe,” Orr said. “My officers police everything within our boundaries. We’re able to handle all comers on our reservation.”

Crime and race

McCoy and other proponents cite a 2004 report by the U.S. Department of Justice that found that American Indians are twice as likely as other races to be victims of violence.

In one category of crime – murders of juveniles – the killer in 70 percent of cases was another American Indian from 1976 to 1999. But unlike whites and blacks, who tend to suffer violence primarily at the hands of someone of the same race, the study suggests that Indians are primarily victimized by members of other races. At least two-thirds of the time, robberies and assaults of tribal members were done by whites or blacks.

The numbers were particularly striking for sexual assault, where federal statisticians calculated that 86 percent of Native American victims were raped or sexually assaulted by whites or blacks.

“And by virtue of race, we can’t touch them,” Mike Lasnier, chief of the Suquamish tribal police, told lawmakers at a recent hearing. Because of jurisdictional problems, he said, reservations are also targeted by organized crime trying to move drugs.

On New Year’s Eve several years ago, Lasnier said, he had to let an obviously impaired driver go without charges because no deputy would be available for eight hours. (The suspect was not allowed to drive home.) Two years later, Lasnier said, that driver killed three people in a wreck.

Sheriffs oppose bill

According to the state sheriffs association, 38 of the state’s 39 county sheriffs oppose the bill. Snohomish County Sheriff John Lovick, a former state lawmaker, was the only dissenter. In a letter to lawmakers, the sheriffs said they’re worried about liability in case someone sues over a tribal officer’s actions. Tribal officers said their federal training is at least as good as the state’s training center.

“It’s presumptuous and I think at best inaccurate” to suppose that tribal police have less training, said Scott Smith, chief of Tulalip tribal police.

Some lawmakers seem skeptical. Under questioning at a legislative hearing last week, Smith acknowledged that in two months on the job, he’s fired three people who didn’t meet his standards.

“You’ve been there for two months and you’ve fired three people. What should I read from that that existed there prior to your arrival?” said Sen. Mike Carrell, R-Lakewood.

Rep. Joel Kretz, R-Wauconda, also said the jurisdiction problem is a two-way street. The bill would not grant deputies any more authority over tribal members on reservations.

“What I’ve seen is it works both ways,” Kretz told McCoy. “I could tell you a lot of stories about crimes being committed off-reservation where the perpetrator goes back, whether it’s a tribal member or not.”

McCoy agreed. “Yes, we have Indians that misbehave, and they use the jurisdiction just like the non-Indians,” he said. But he said his tribe is cracking down.

“Because we don’t want anybody to break the law,” McCoy said, “no matter what the color of their skin.”