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The U.S. solicitor general granted the Tigua Police Department a special law enforcement commission to apprehend potential felons, where before they would have to rely on Soccorro or El Paso PD to investigate a crime, and and could only hope justice would be served. Tribal Police Chief Raul Candelaria, Celina’s uncle, says not being able to protect the Pueblo made him feel like 2nd class citizens.
“El Paso has encroached on the land of the res, and now a lot of the indians living on the pueblo are married to non-indians,” said Chief Candelaria. “We also have visitors coming into the reservation that are non-indian and unfortunately we cannot enforce any penalty or law on them.”
The new law enforcement recognition though, changes that for the ten officers that make up the tribal police department.
“Now we have the ability to enforce our own laws, tribal laws and US laws,” Chief Candelaria said, and for Officers like Celina Candelaria, the power to protect their people.
“Now any crime that’s under the felony list, we can actually go ahead and convict them of that,” Candelaria said.
Chief Candelaria tells ABC-7 domestic violence, rape, drug abuse and theft are the most common non-native crimes on the reservation, and the ones tribal police will be pursuing.
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