By DUSTIN HURST

IdahoReporter.com

BOISE - It took lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee nearly six hours, but they finally cleared a bill that would give tribal police officers the authority to enforce state law without needing authorization from a county sheriff.

The panel cleared the bill on an 8-6 vote.  It now heads to the House floor.

The bill centers on a dispute between the Coeur d’Alene Tribe and Benewah County in North Idaho.  The tribe’s land overlaps Benewah County, but the two entities cannot agree how law enforcement should take place on the reservation.  The bill seeks to ensure that non-tribal members cited on reservation highways are sent into state court and not tribal proceedings.

Bill Roden, lobbyist for the tribe, said the legislation became necessary when negotiations between Benewah officials and the tribe broke down in early 2010.  Those negotiations were spurred by 2010’s House Bill 500, which would have required the two parties to develop a working agreement within six months of the passage of the legislation.

The county and the tribe had an agreement in place for several years to cross-deputize officers but it was ended in 2007 by the sheriff, who had concerns about how tribal deputies were handing out citations.

The bill would allow tribal deputies to enforce state laws, but would prohibit deputies to take offenders into tribal courts.  Instead, Roden explained, all offenders would be taken to county courts.

Helo Hancock, legislative advisor for the tribe, said the current system – in which tribal officers call for “assists” and wait for deputy or state police officials – isn’t sustainable.  “Last year, tribal officers waited more than 1,000 hours for Benewah sheriff’s deputies or Idaho State Police,” said Hancock.

Tribal officers are allowed to temporarily detain alleged offenders for a “reasonable” amount of time, but Hancock says slow response times by other police agencies have let some potential crooks off the hook.  “We’ve had to turn some people loose,” said Hancock, adding that the tribal police made stops on more than 1,300 non-Indians in 2010.

Other government-sanctioned law enforcement officials – city cops, sheriff’s deputies, ISP officers – are beholden and accountable to some type of elected official.  One criticism posed by opponents of the plan is that tribal deputies would have to answer to no one in the state while enforcing Idaho law.

Roden says that is not really true, pointing out that because tribal deputies are trained at the Police Officer Standards and Training (POST) facility, a program operated by the state, they can be de-certified by the POST oversight board.

Staunch opposition to the plan came from one of the key men in the dispute, Benewah County Sheriff Robert Kirts, who said the plan would erode away the rights of Idaho citizens.  “The bottom line of this issue is Idaho citizens’ rights. Are you willing to sign away these rights guaranteed by the state constitution?” asked Kirts.

Though the legislation provides that non-tribal persons cited be booked into state court, Kirts cited a tribal code that would allow the tribe to take civil action against any offenders.

Another key voice in the dispute is Benewah County prosecuting attorney Doug Payne, who said he is worried, like Kirts, that non-tribal members could be subjected to tribal laws.  “The concern here is that the tribe will continue to pass laws without a vote of the people being governed about all sorts of things … and then begin to impose them on non-tribal citizens by the use of citations,” said Payne.

Rep. Dick Harwood, R-St. Maries, testified against the measure, saying that the state should stay away from interfering in a local matter.   Coeur d’Alene Tribe Chief Allan said that the state should act in the interest of public safety and allow tribal officers to enforce state laws.

In the end committee members supported the bill and sent it on to the House floor, where it will receive a vote in upcoming days.