Native American Police Forces

[Lawson]

Here in Washington, since tribes are considered their own soveirgn nation, different rules apply to them than traditional police departments. Most send their officers to the BIA (Buerau of Indian Affairs) academy down in New Mexico. Some tribes send their officers to the CJTC academy put on by the state; however; they don't actually have to send them to an academy at all. The tribe closest to my agency has had officers just work with a reserve academy. Another tribe has had officers work for their agency with as little as Army Basic Training, 4 years in the service and the tribal PD's FTO.

Tribes out here don't have jurisdiction over non-tribal members unless they can get cross-commissioned with their county. So when the tribe next to our city sees a non-tribal member commit a crime, they can detain them, but have to call a county deputy to actually effect the arrest.

Because of their soveirgnty, you can't sue them for officer misconduct as well.

They are also trying to pass a state law giving tribes state jurisdiction on a tribe-to-tribe basis, but the tribes will have to:
-Take out a $15million insurance policy
-Put all officers through a state approved psych/poly
-Ensure all officers have met the standards of the WA State CJTC peace officer certification standards
-Give up soverignty in civil and criminal cases against officers and the department.

[JB diligence]

There are lots of them in Canada. See www.policecanada.ca under First nations (under the provincial flags on the left).

The closest to me is across the river in KAHNAWAKE. They do not call themselves police they are MOHAWK PEACE KEEPERS. It is very unusual as you can see in the photps of their cars where unlike the rest of Quebec where French is the offical language they use English.

Neil, that same website ran through my mind as I was writing my post. In fact on one of my "friend's" (Ok former Girl Friend) transports' we probably stayed at one of your places (did I mention we were long distance for some time). Of course the prisoner was safely in there own accomodfations appointed by the crown...

[HotelSecurity]

There are lots of them in Canada. See www.policecanada.ca under First nations (under the provincial flags on the left).

The closest to me is across the river in KAHNAWAKE. They do not call themselves police they are MOHAWK PEACE KEEPERS. It is very unusual as you can see in the photps of their cars where unlike the rest of Quebec where French is the offical language they use English.

[NRM_Oz]

Thanks for the incite as I was curious after in a post someone had mentioned tribal policing as a career option. Basically, we have aboriginal communities where they have attempted to use natives as state police officers together with tribal elders and have made them dry communities with alcohol some 300 miles away for the sake of the community (assault, sexual abuse, child abuse and other incidents are very common).

[FederalSecurity]

Part of the facility that we protect is on the Colville Reservation. One of

their Natural Resources Enforcement Officers told me that his department

sends them to the 16-week Indian Police Academy at the FLETC site in

Artesia, New Mexico.

[JB diligence]

In a nutshell, they are Police Officers in there respective provinces, just as any other Police Officer in Canada is.

Here's a bit more that I do know...

I know that here in Canada we have "Native" police services as well. For the most part they are police officers or Special Constables, I believe formed for them to police themselves on Indian/First Nations reserves. The correct term for "Indian" changes frequently here as well has different names for the same type of race aside from Inuit (Eskimo) people who prefer Inuit.

So these police services operate on Native land (reserves) just as regular cops do for the rest of us, I understand the areas they take care of now were, prior to inception of native policing, were policed by either the RCMP or provincial Police services in the cases of Ontario and Quebec.

A friend of mine is a police officer for one Inuit region in the far north isolated to the point that they have to fly in and out and things like vehicles are brought in by boat. She is white and a lot of whites have a difficult time in the beginning as far as acceptance goes. Thing is, not enough of there own people (in some areas) want to be cops, so they accept non native/Inui people. And believe me these places particularly, are a TOTALLY different world than the one we are accustomed to I.E. Higher than normal suicide, alcohol and drug abuse rates including "big city" drugs (I had a hard time grasping that myself), as well as sexual assault and incest. Quite sad, I have spoken to her often about the issues up there.

In the case of incarceration they are flown to a larger non native/Inuit community to do time there. I don't know how it is State side or in Australia but some reserves here are best described as third world as far as living conditions go. They are very different from those in civilization or regular communities.

In Canada there is a lot of tension between Natives and non Natives, based on land claims and treaties going back over a hundred years ago, almost like one set of rules for us and another for them, but that's just my 2 cents...

[Black Caesar]

Ok excuse the ignorance again but can someone explain how these police forces work and how they work with federal authorities like the FBI ?

I recall discussing this with a close former friend who was in Alaska and explained how the reservations / tribal lands were treated differently and how the community raised an income through casino's and tourism as she would often have to lose contact for a few weeks every few months to have time with the tribal elders to discuss a few things (never did tell me).

Do they follow formal police training schools and what jurisdiction do they have with say State Police and in crisis your National Guard ?

Here's a page on one of them. I think the NNP is the biggest of them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navajo_Tribal_Police

[NRM_Oz]

Ok excuse the ignorance again but can someone explain how these police forces work and how they work with federal authorities like the FBI ?

I recall discussing this with a close former friend who was in Alaska and explained how the reservations / tribal lands were treated differently and how the community raised an income through casino's and tourism as she would often have to lose contact for a few weeks every few months to have time with the tribal elders to discuss a few things (never did tell me).

Do they follow formal police training schools and what jurisdiction do they have with say State Police and in crisis your National Guard ?