Tribe seeks solution to arrest issue

COEUR d'ALENE - The Coeur d'Alene Tribe is back in Boise trying to resurrect a law enforcement issue that slipped away last year.

This time around, it wouldn't be a cross-deputization agreement; rather a state law.

The Tribe is proposing a bill that would allow tribal police officers the ability to enforce state laws on Indian reservations in Idaho by arresting or citing non-tribal members who break the law into the state judicial system - something officers can't do.

It's the second consecutive year the Tribe has attempted to bolster its law enforcement through the Legislature.

Last year, a law enforcement agreement between the Tribe and Benewah County fell though after each side accused the other of going back on its word.

"It's ridiculous that we're back here again," said Coeur d'Alene Tribe Chairman Chief Allan in a press release. "It's about safety and doing what's right. It's time for Idaho to step up and get the job done."

The new law differs from last year's attempt in that it skips proposals calling for a six-month window to reach a collaborative cross-deputization agreement with a county, and grants the law enforcement ability through law.

The House State Affairs Committee voted unanimously to introduce the new bill on Thursday.

Benewah County Prosecutor Doug Payne had not seen the proposal Thursday so couldn't comment on it directly, but said county officials do hope to work with the Tribe in law enforcement issues. However, the county couldn't support any proposal that would give tribal officers the authority to cite non-tribal members into tribal court, he said.

That power would be too far-reaching, Payne said.

"It's the major sticking point for the county," he said.

The proposed law wouldn't allow tribal officers to cite non-tribal members to tribal court, only the state's, said Marc Stewart, Tribe spokesman.

"That would not happen," he said. "And it doesn't happen now."

The focus is increased public safety on the reservation, he said.

Also different this time around, the Tribe could fall back on a new federal law - the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010 - to gain law enforcement authority should the state fail to pass the proposal.

That federal law - sponsored in part by U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho - allows tribal police officers to enforce federal law on reservations. If necessary, the officers can cite violators of state law into federal court as well.

"The bottom line is that if the state doesn't pass this bill, we'll be forced to turn to the federal option," Allan said in the release. "The Tribe is committed to protecting the reservation."