RPB: Benewah Situation Complicated

RalphPB: I would advise that before anyone berates the easily-marked simpletons in Benewah County, that they fully research this, including hearing what the U.S. Attorney’s office says (they didn’t release a statement re: the Jack Buell case, which has seemingly been lost in their files), ask questions of all (not just both) sides until they get real answers. That could require public information requests all around. To say that cross-deputization should occur because it “has been commonly done in the past,” is a lazy answer. Full comment below.

Question: Do you support cross-deputization of Coeur d’Alene Tribe police by Benewah County? Or do you believe Sheriff Kirts has the right to refuse cross deputization?

What’s absurd is that someone with the sense of Christie
Wood is making this a racial issue.
Racial issues are two-edged swords.
This is a power and a money issue. But that’s too easy. There’s more to it. It’s an issue that state lawmakers including the governor and attorney general haven’t had the balls to address.
I would advise that before anyone berates the easily-marked simpletons in Benewah County, that they fully research this, including hearing what the U.S. Attorney’s office says (they didn’t release a statement re: the Jack Buell case, which has seemingly been lost in their files), ask questions of all (not just both) sides until they get real answers. That could require public information requests all around.
To say that cross-deputization should occur because it “has been commonly done in the past,” is a lazy answer.
Tribal sovereignty is a stew that the federal government at all levels still hasn’t figured out and it presents a lot of problems that include liability issues.
When a Tribal officer drove off the rode several years ago while transporting an inmate to the Benewah County jail — at a time of cross-deputization during an earlier administration — the county was made liable, because it was their inmate.
Christie Wood is a law enforcement officer and should know better than to publicly take a fellow law enforcement officer to task - one with a wealth more experience in law enforcement than she - without knowing why these wheels are spinning.
In journalism we learn to report at least two sides of a story. This issue is multi-faceted and there is no easy solution, therefore it is reckless on her part to take sides.
Platitudes used by tribal PR such as “in the name of public safety,” are unsubstantiated as is the notion that thousands of criminals have been set free because of lack of cooperation between Benewah County deputies and the Tribe.
I have a notion, having covered this beat for several years, that the officers in question work well together. Several Tribal officers are former county deputies and if you read police reports from the western side of the county invariably you will find that arrests are made cooperatively by tribal and county officers, as well as ISP and Plummer PD.
The head butting is at a higher level. Tom Cronin, who Tribal Chief of Police Keith Hutcheson replaced, might have a better insight.
Perhaps Christie Wood should also work with the Benewah County Sheriff’s Office and add their concerns to her repertoire.
That seems only rational.