Victims lost in legal tug-of-war
In this land of minimal-government philosophy there remain a few aspects of society no one disputes are properly left to the nation or state. Chief among these is law enforcement.
It's hard to admit that humanity is still too imperfect to leave to self-discipline, yet we are so far from safely civilized that imagining a world without police is frightening. Case in point: Idaho's relatively high rates of domestic violence and sexual assault, and recent publicity revealing the coverage gap in Benewah County - what some would call a criminal's loophole, with good reason.
The problem: Two sovereign governments (State of Idaho and Coeur d'Alene Tribe), and it seems in Benewah County alone, a failure between them to come to agreement over authority to arrest. The result: Crimes which go unpunished, so the perpetrators remain free to reoffend.
"When they call and say, 'I have restraining order against so-and-so, and they've contacted me,' I have to say, 'I am sorry. I can't do anything.' It's heart breaking because I can't do anything and it's embarrassing because we're supposed to be a law enforcement agency," said Heidi Twoteeth, with police dispatch for Benewah County.
In Kootenai a cross-deputization agreement exists with the Tribe, but in Benewah a similar agreement dissolved in 2006. Now the state may step in with legislation, although legal questions, the least of which are federal overtones, make it complex.
Legalities aside, the human cost can't endure. That should be enough motivation to end this.
For example, tribal officers within tribe territory respond to a 911 emergency call; a woman is being violently attacked in a residence. They arrive, but the victim and perpetrator are not tribe members; many residents of tribal territory are not. Officers are powerless to arrest.
The emotional costs of these crimes of interpersonal violence are destructive enough. Often, they affect entire families for generations. If a victim knows there is no way out, no help from the law (which includes victim's compensation for medical care and other practical assistance), these costs are higher and both hopelessness and crime continue.
More victims created; more families suffer. More rapists feel free to attack again. More children grow up with the consequences of abuse, repeating the cycle or - a statistical reality - reacting with crimes of their own.
It's an extreme shame that it has come to this - an escalating turf war when it's in the common interest to make it work at the county level. Yet it has. One way or another, this haven for human pain has to end.
Sholeh Patrick is an attorney and a columnist for the Hagadone News Network. Contact her at sholehjo@hotmail.com