December 15, 2008
COLORADO U.S. ATTORNEY’S OFFICE HELPS TRIBAL, STATE AND LOCAL OFFICERS TO FIGHT CRIME ON INDIAN RESERVATIONS
Cortez training to deputize Four Corners officers to enforce federal crimes in domestic violence and other cases
CORTEZ – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado, the Southern Ute Indian Tribe Department of Justice & Regulatory, and the U.S. Department of the Interior/Bureau of Indian Affairs Indian Police Academy, is sponsoring an intensive “Criminal Justice in Indian Country” course for Tribal leaders and law enforcement professionals at the Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office in Cortez, Colorado this week. The goal of the two day training, which started today, and is training 37 students from Southwestern Colorado and the Four Corners, is to strengthen public safety on Indian reservations.
At the conclusion of the course, the BIA Indian Police Academy will administer the Special Law Enforcement Commission (SLEC) exam. Qualified law enforcement officers who pass this exam, and whose agencies have entered into SLEC agreements with the BIA, will be allowed to make federal arrests and enforce federal law within Indian Country – for instance, in cases where a non-Indian defendant commits a violent crime against a Native American victim on an Indian reservation.
Instructors for this week’s course include U.S. Magistrate Judge David West, Southern Ute Indian Tribe Director of the Department of Justice and Regulatory Janelle Doughty, United States Attorney Troy Eid, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Bob Mydans and Todd Norvell, U.S. Attorney Victim Witness Coordinator Carol Morris, and Southern Ute Indian Tribe Victims’ Advocate Lisa Manzanares.
Law enforcement officers have registered from Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office, City of Cortez Police Department, City of Durango Police Department, Town of Mancos Marshal’s Office, Southern Ute Indian Tribe, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Jicarilla Apache Indian Tribe (New Mexico), the Navajo Nation (Arizona), and Tule River Indian Reservation (California).
Topics include:
* Criminal justice and Indian Country jurisdiction.
* Federal statutory offenses in Indian Country, including the Major Crimes Act and the Indian Country Crimes Act.
* Federal court practice and procedure.
* Tribal, state and local law enforcement partnerships.
* Criminal and civil liability for law enforcement officers.
* Report-writing, investigative techniques, witness preparation, and court testimony.
* BIA Special Law Enforcement Commissions (SLECs).
“Our training program is a proven way to increase domestic violence prosecutions, rescue victims and save lives. Thanks to Sheriff Gerald Wallace of Montezuma County for graciously hosting this important event,” United States Attorney Troy Eid said.
The Criminal Justice in Indian Country program originally began as a pilot project between Colorado’s U.S. Attorney’s Office, the BIA-Indian Police Academy, and the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, headquartered in Ignacio, Colorado. Since February 2007, Colorado’s U.S. Attorney’s Office has participated in more than a dozen Criminal Justice in Indian Country classes in partnership with the BIA-Indian Police Academy, including classes sponsored last summer by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in New Mexico and South Dakota. More than 300 Tribal leaders, police chiefs, county sheriffs, state troopers, and others from 16 states have been successfully trained through this program to help prevent, investigate and prosecute crime on Indian reservations. After completing the course and taking the SLEC exam, many of these officers have also been federally deputized to enforce federal criminal laws in Indian Country.
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