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Law Enforcement and Tribal Courts

The role of the Federal government has increased in recent years, but the primary responsibility of crime control and prevention rests directly with our Nation's state, tribal, and local governments. There are numerous tribal police departments tasked with crime control and prevention along with tribal judicial systems that have the awesome responsibility of applying the law. Both tribal police departments and tribal judiciary systems are the ultimate expression of inherent tribal sovereignty. The ability of any nation to enact, enforce, and interpret its own laws and be governed by them is one of the most recognized power of any sovereign. The NCAI supports and assists these tribal police departments and tribal judicial systems by advocating for increased funding for programs, conducting training programs, and reporting to these constituents regarding legislative activities that will affect them in some way.

American Indian law enforcement

The federal government funds most public safety and criminal justice systems in Indian Country. The typical police department in Indian Country is attempting to cope with an increasing workload driven by rising crime, increased police involvement in the social concerns that relate to crime, greater community demands for police services, and is doing so with a quite limited resource base. The men and women that work for Indian Country police departments are dedicated and professional in every aspect of the challenging and difficult job that must be done every day of the week at any time of the day.

• Police in Indian Country function within a complicated jurisdictional net, answer to multiple authorities, operate with limited resources, and patrol some of the most desolate of territory often without assistance from partner law enforcement agencies.
• There are only 2,380 Bureau of Indian Affairs and tribal uniformed officers available to serve an estimated 1.4 million Indians covering over 56 million acres of tribal lands in the lower 48 states.
• On tribal lands, 1.3 officers must serve every 1,000 citizens, compared to 2.9 officers per 1,000 citizens in non-Indian communities with populations under 10,000.
• A total of at least 4,290 sworn officers are needed in Indian Country to provide the minimum level of coverage enjoyed by most communities in the United States.
• Among the most important challenges facing these officers and departments is providing around-the-clock police coverage to their communities.
• These departments rarely have more than one officer on duty at any time, and their officers often work without adequate backup. They are true innovators, working across numerous police and administrative functions.
• The lessons drawn by tribes and Congress from the research on and accumulation of experience in community policing and the design of effective governing institutions in Indian Country provide the necessary starting points for tribes as they rethink policing.
• The challenge is to create workable, nation-specific policing institutions and approaches informed by traditional customs-since they lay the best foundation for improving safety, preventing crime, and promoting the practice of effective policing in Indian Country.

Documents

• Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Law Enforcement Concept Paper
• Legislative Update 09-04 (11/30/04)
• NCAI Letter opposing nomination of William G. Meyers III to 9th Circuit Court of Appeals (01/28/2004)
• NCAI President Says S578 Will Close Vulnerable Gap In Homeland Security
• NCAI Endorsed S.578; Bill Ensures Tribal Participation in Homeland Security Endeavors
• House Begins Debate on FY2002 Commerce-Justice-State Appropriations Bill, Legislative Update #369, 07/17/01
• Indian Country Surveyed on Youth Gang Activity, Legislative Update #350, 04/16/01
• FY2001 Commerce-Justice-State Appropriations Bill Signed, Legislative Update #322, 01/12/01
• FY2001 DOJ Law Enforcement Initiative Appropriations, Priority Issue Memorandum, November 2000

Links

• National Tribal Justice Resource Center
• National Indian Law Library
• U.S. Department of Justice
• National Native American Law Enforcement Association

National Congress of American Indians (NCAI)
1301 Connecticut Ave NW, Suite 200, Washington D.C. 20036
Phone: (202) 466-7767, Fax: (202) 466-7797
Email: ncai@ncai.org

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