NCJ Number
158680
Journal
Law Enforcement Technology Volume: 22 Issue: 10 Dated: (October 1995) Pages: 64,66-68,72-74
Date Published
1995
Length
7 pages
Annotation
Indian reservations often have their own laws, customs, practices, courts, and police, although tribes often rely on local law enforcement agencies to provide general law enforcement services or are police by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) police or the Bureau of Land Management's law enforcement services branch.
Abstract
Tribes that have their own police agencies fund the police themselves, as demonstrated by the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe in Nevada. Their reservation was policed by the BIA until 1991, when the tribe started its own police agency due to dissatisfaction with the BIA police. Due to limited funds, the tribal police are paid about $9 per hour, their only retirement plan is Social Security, vehicles are often surplus Army trucks, and the radio system is inadequate. The tribe has a law code that applies to all people who enter the reservation and sometimes differs from State law. Minor larceny is the main crime the police investigate. Examples of tribal police in more prosperous settings are the Oneida Nation Police in New York and the Lac du Flambeau Band of Chippewa Indians in Wisconsin. Indian police are gradually attaining full recognition in the criminal justice community.