From the The Glacier Reporter:
A new system of law enforcement introduced, includes prevention
By John McGill
Wednesday, November 28, 2007 10:26 AM MST
The fact that Bureau of Indian Affairs police officers serving in Blackfeet Country cannot be compelled to appear in Blackfeet Tribal Court by tribal judges, according to a recent U.S. Solicitor General’s opinion, was one of the more interesting tidbits garnered at Monday’s law and order meeting held at Tribal Headquarters. Steve Juneau of Lamar Associates emceed the meeting, which outlined plans adopted by the Blackfeet Tribe for reassuming control of law enforcement and creating a Department of Public Safety that would “provide leadership separate from political changes in tribal government,” Juneau said.
Several people in attendance noted shortcomings in services provided by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which forcibly assumed control of law enforcement on the reservation three years ago. Juneau said he began by looking at the justice service programs, “those that provide victim services or interact with law enforcement to find out where is the disconnect and issues precluding us to have a smooth transition…The biggest issue,” he said, “is there is no interoperability, no way for these entities to communicate with each other. So we need a structure for communication and we looked at the best practices around the country. We looked at violent crime with the statistics we had and asked, why is it that we police like that?”
Juneau explained the commonest form of policing Indian Country came from the military model they learned from the U.S. Government. “It was a square peg in a round hole,” said Juneau.
So his firm looked at other systems in use, both new and traditional, and where technology might be able to help. As a result of his investigation, Juneau said the best systems focus on the victim as their top priority. “Nothing is more important than that victim. We should be sitting them down and helping them get through the process.”
Juneau said standard practice today is to have the victim personally go from one department to another in getting through the current system. Victims, therefore, frequently have to tell their story several times to different people before anything can be done.
“The last thing we want is for people to have to talk to people over and over with the same story…How would I want my own daughter treated?” he said.
Other features of successful law enforcement programs include making services appropriate areas’ needs, focusing on improving the quality of life, smooth communication and transparency. For police officers, these programs demand measurable performance, accountability to the public, prioritizing crimes, using all the tools and fostering productive partnerships.
In using all the tools, Juneau explained officers who respond to a crime and submit a report are only doing about half the work. The other portion includes following up with the victim to see that the process is complete.
The new system, he said, should be based on a foundation of community policing that involves citizens in quality of life issues such as trash and the environment, with strategies developed to deal with the issues that are specific to each community. Community policing must include measurable performance standards as well as evaluating the success or failure of the efforts so the system is held accountable.
Compiling and analyzing statistics is another basic foundational aspect of the new system, said Juneau. In most operations, he said, officers show up for work not knowing what they’ll be doing, apart from responding to calls. As a result, numbers are spread too thinly and much time is wasted.
Juneau said he’d worked with several departments in the Southwest and noted the improvement seen in just a few months after he began having his officers compile and report on crime activities on a weekly basis. By accumulating data on where, when and what kinds of crimes occur, he was able to begin developing strategies to deal with allocating his officers’ time and efforts, as well as putting some time into prevention.
Interoperability was Juneau’s third listed foundation of the new system, and that came down to an Internet presence via a Department of Public Safety website. Not only does the website provide a fast and reliable means of transferring data between different tribal law enforcement entities, Juneau pointed out, it is also extremely inexpensive to run.
Finally, the foundation of the new system includes a Public Safety Commission, which Councilman Smiley Kittson noted will replace the Tribe’s earlier call for a Blackfeet Law and Order Commission. The PSC will consist of three members elected to two-year terms by the Blackfeet membership. The positions will require members to have five years experience in public safety; there will be no salaries, but the members will receive stipends. It was announced by Councilman Kittson that three members were in the process of being appointed by the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council, but that they would be replaced in an election to be held this June. According to Juneau, the trio will be charged with specifically defining the Commission’s mission and its authority over support programs.
While the PSC is being formed, the DPS is working on its first phase of hiring and is soon to begin the second phase. Officers will be hired and then trained at the Montana Academy, he said, for basic training in police tactics, and the Tribe will host courses in federal law on the Blackfeet Reservation. In addition, he said, they will all receive training in Tribal law. When they return from training, they will work for the Blackfeet Tribe and will answer to the Blackfeet Tribal Court.
The new system also has several programs developed for citizen participation, some volunteer and some paid. Juneau explained the exact mix of paid personnel versus volunteers is something that will evolve as the system is implemented, but there are many opportunities for people to take part in various aspects of law enforcement.
There was skepticism expressed over the ability of the new program to actually succeed in changing things on the reservation, and some criticized the program as being the same system as before with a different name. Others complained that the original civilian body governing law enforcement had been apparently abandoned and another substituted in its place.
Juneau responded the changes he’d like to see occur require not only enforcement but also prevention, and that it is a gradual process. He insisted it is an entirely new system and not a rehash of what’s come before. In answer to questions about the Blackfeet Law and Order Commission, Councilman Kittson said it has now become the Public Safety Commission.
The meeting Monday was just the first of five slated to be held this week around the reservation. Everyone is welcome to attend, and the food service is excellent. The meeting Wednesday is set for Babb School; on Thursday the public should attend at Heart Butte High School; and on Friday the meeting will be held at the Seville Day Care Center. All the meetings are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m
Turtle Talk 