Kane: ‘There is no good guy and bad guy’

Mike Kane, lobbyist for the Idaho Sheriff’s Association, said, “There has been some very vigorous lobbying on both sides of this bill. … At the end of the day, there is no good guy and bad guy. These are all law enforcement entities.” Kane told the House Judiciary Committee, “We have reviewed this bill very closely. … They did in fact approach us prior to our December meeting of the sheriff’s association, they made some changes as a result of the discussion with our sheriffs, and many of the things you see here actually originate with various sheriffs around the state.” However, he said the sheriffs’ group has some fundamental differences with the bill, centering on the fact that county sheriffs don’t have jurisdiction over tribal members on reservations. The bill doesn’t change that, he noted. Cross-deputization agreements, however, can.

Kane called the bill something of a “one-way street,” because it would allow tribal officers to gain jurisdiction over non-tribal members on the reservation, in certain circumstances, if cooperative talks fail, but the other side of the equation - sheriff’s jurisdiction over tribal members on the reservation - would remain unaddressed.