What Priorities Should Police Have? Reservation residents were asked to speculate about what priorities state/county, federalBIA, or triba...
What Priorities Should Police Have? Reservation residents were asked to speculate about what priorities state/county, federalBIA, or tribal police should have. This open-ended question provides information about what reservation residents believe police priorities and actions should be within reservation communities. Respondents were asked to answer from their own experiences, and most provided ideas or short lists of crimes or issues that they felt their local police force should be emphasizing in the delivery of police services.
The many responses were coded into what appear to be two major groups what we might call “community policing,” and the three most serious law-and-order problems — drug offenses, alcohol abuse, domestic violence, and related crimes and issues. If a respondent mentioned one of the three most serious law-and-order problems, then the response was coded as a “most serious law and order problem.” If a respondent did not mention one of the most serious law-and-order problems and related information about preferences for community policing, then the response was coded as “community policing.” 310 This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Whenever a respondent gave both a community-policing answer and a serious law and order issue, then the answer is coded as a serious law and order issue. Sometimes a respondent gave both community policing and most serious law-and-order problems information, but all such responses were coded as most serious law-and-order problems. The community policing codes do not include any direct references to drug offenses, alcohol abuse, or domestic violence, and, therefore, are independent of the most serious law and order codings. Community policing issues include a variety of community building ideas, such as cooperation with tribal government, agreements, better communication with community, community education, favoring rehabilitation programs, cooperation with tribal police and tribal government, community safety and protection, learning about and understanding reservation community and culture, community service
, peacemaking, and related ideas. Any response that did not fit into the community policing or most serious law-and-order issues coding was coded as “other.” Other codes include issues like arrest law breakers, more police resources, respond to calls, need for training and equipment, better police equity, better investigations, better patrolling, child abuse issues, and others. Reservation residents were asked to provide their views about what would be the best priorities for local police. Many reservation residents responded to the question twice, giving their views about their local tribal police department, if they had one, and then commenting on state/county police in Public Law 280 jurisdictions or federal-BIA police in non-Public Law 280 jurisdictions. Some respondents have more than one coding. In total, 297 comments on what police priorities should be were recorded for reservation residents. Reservation residents say that police should make community policing methods a central priority 148 times (49.8%). Nearly half of reservation residents say police in Indian country should adopt community policing priorities. One hundred thirteen reservation residents (38.0%) say police should concentrate on attending to the three major law-and-order issues — drug offenses, alcohol abuse, domestic violence, and related crimes and issues. Thirty-one respondents (10.4%) mentioned other issues, and 5 (1.7%) declined to answer the question. As a group reservation residents want police to adopt more community-policing methods and styles, while also concentrating on the three major law-and-order issues of drug offenses, alcohol abuse, domestic violence, and related crimes and issues. Some comments about community policing include: I would say better communication and building better working relationships with tribes, because if you don’t have that, and you just come in on an issue, depending on the issue and depending on the people involved, sometimes there is more tendency for conflict than there is (an agreeable) resolve. I would have to say a little more because I am in the community-service business. Come out, and talk to our kids. Get to know them and their families. ... Yes, it would be nice to know the county guys. 311 This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. I think they should be getting to know their community better and trying to identify what the problems are and how they can help with the problems. And let the community work out a better relationship with them that we are here to help, and serve and provide a service. Then get more officers on duty. It’s community policing.
It’s a community-friendly type of policing. They are much in favor of, like, extending a friendly hand to the community, as opposed to coming in with the iron-fist type of (action). I don’t know what they really should focus on, but I know that they need to be educated on the community and be able to work with the community when they are here. And not come in and think, well, we are law enforcement, we are rough and tough, and we will take care of you. The best mentality to have is, “We want to be part of your community. What can we do?” I think they have to be caring, too, because that is one of the biggest problems. They don’t care. I think if an outside agency wants to have a good rapport and good relationship with a tribe within the jurisdiction, they need to concentrate more on that tribe. They need to have public awareness. Attend a tribal meeting, let tribal members issue some concerns and answer those concerns. Don’t be the guy who comes in and just handcuffs an individual and takes them out. Let the tribe understand the reason why. Members are not stupid by any means. A lot of them don’t understand why you are coming in here and invading our space and thrashing everything in the surrounding area. I think community policing is a big step in relationships, and I think that would rank up there pretty high. One priority we try and keep is just general patrol. The general patrol, and the community-oriented policing approach, where the officers get out, and they get to know the community … and by utilizing the community-oriented policing, little by little, you get the community to know that you are there to help them. There is probably some deep-rooted feelings in our community against the law enforcement because of the history. I would say developing a better working relationship, communication, maybe more community policing.
Try to build trust so that the people do feel like they can call the police. I think, and unfortunately I don’t know if they are capable of doing this, but I think that the first priority is community presence. They need to be not just cops with badges and a gun telling people what to do, but they also need to be part of the community. 312 This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. I think community relations and giving more autonomy to the tribal police.
I think the best thing about Public Law 280 would be to get rid of it, and I am not sure that is going to happen. I think if they focus on human relations and try to form more of a partnership. If they would empower the people, that is how you get a partnership going. ... But there has been absolutely no outreach from the police department to this community on things like that. Are there different patterns of reservation-resident vision for best police practices according to jurisdiction and police department? Reservation residents in Public Law 280 and non-Public Law 280 jurisdictions gave comments about the police practices they preferred for Public Law 280 state/county police, non-Public Law 280 federal-BIA police, and Public Law 280 and non-Public Law 280 tribal police. With a 2X2X2 log-linear analysis, the data in our sample lend themselves to investigating the effects of community-policing preferences, yes or not, jurisdiction and police department either tribal police, or non-tribal police departments, federal-BIA and state/county police.
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