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.”
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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.
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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.
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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.
