President's Message

Last fall the appellate court ruled tribal police officers had no jurisdiction off tribal lands. The case stems from a Warm Springs Tribal Officer that pursued a person off the reservation into Jefferson County. The officer arrested and lodged the suspect in the Jefferson County Jail. The individual was found guilty and he appealed the case to the appellate courts.

The appellate courts reversed the conviction due to the statute that defines "police officer" as the municipal police, the "county sheriff" and the Oregon State Police. The statute does not include tribal police and gives them no power as a Police Officer off of Tribal Lands.

This decision has affected several counties in our state to include my county, Wasco County, where a large portion of the Warms Springs reservation is located. In the past, tribal officers have assisted deputies by handling accidents on highways just off thereservation when the nearest deputy is an hour away. Other counties along the Columbia River have the Inter-Tribal Police who enforce fishing and hunting regulations associated with the Confederated Tribes on the Columbia River. There are counties in the state that have casinos which are trust lands and not on a reservation. In these instances, the Oregon State Police have troopers that work the gaming enforcement, and the sheriff's deputies patrolling the counties are also responsible for crimes on tribal land.

Currently there are several sheriffs addressing this issue by swearing in tribal police as deputies. Through the use of a MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) which outlines the powers that are given to the tribal police to take action in a designated county and on reservation land with non-tribal persons. This option allows the county sheriff to monitor the training of those that are sworn in as deputies avoiding liability issues. The tribes are also meeting with the Governor's Office, legislators, and the Department of Police Standards and Training (DPSST) to acquire a legislative change to include tribal officers in the statute.

Tribal Officers are not required to be DPSST certified to enforce tribal law on tribal land. DPSST has established standards set by law that require 16-weeks of training at the basic academy and 84-hours every three years to maintain a police officers certification. I believe that a legislative update would be a universal way to fix the problem at hand and therefore requiring tribal police to meet the established standards of all police officers in the State of Oregon.

Since Indian tribes are a sovereign nation, they are not a "governmental unit" of the State of Oregon and therefore tribal police officers are not recognized to enforce state laws. However, your local sheriff does have the authority to deputize tribal police to assist local law enforcement on tribal lands.

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