Agencies renew law enforcement agreement

By Ethan Smith

Leader Staff

In a show of support for local law enforcement, multiple governments came together last Thursday to reaffirm a spirit of cooperation on the reservation.

The signing ceremony brought together state, Tribal, and local city representatives to renew an agreement that allows local law enforcement agencies to help each other in the various jurisdictions on the reservation. While the signatures put on paper represented a formal event, everyone there acknowledged local agencies have been working together successfully for years.

The Sept. 20 event at Tribal council chambers in Pablo reaffirmed that cooperation.

"I appreciate the effort to formalize this agreement, but the fact of the matter is that you do it everyday," Attorney General Mike McGrath said. "The relationship between law enforcement here really is phenomenal."

It wasn't always like that though. When the agreement was initially implemented in 1994, it wasn't necessarily well received, and friction between various law enforcement agencies on the reservation wasn't uncommon.

Following the passage of Senate Bill 368, state officials and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes began a partial retrocession that allowed the Tribes to handle criminal misdemeanor violations among Tribal members on the reservations.

That still exists today, while felonies are handled by Sheriff's deputies, but it's not uncommon to see three different agencies - city police, Tribal Law and Order, and county deputies - responding to a call, often backed up by Montana Highway Patrol troopers. All of those agencies were in attendance last week, as well as representatives from Sanders and Flathead counties, and Hot Springs and Missoula city representatives.

Locally, Sheriff Lucky Larson, commissioner Paddy Trusler, Ronan mayor Kim Aipperspach and police chief Dan Wadsworth, Mission mayor Charley Gariepy and chief Jerry Johnson, and Montana Highway Patrol troopers all attended, as did Tribal chairman James Steele, Jr., who hosted the event.

Steele told attendees that the re-signing of the agreement was simply about helping local law enforcement back each other up, and support each other in the field.

"This gives them another tool to help enforce the law. This is really not a race-based thing," Steele said.

Last week's renewal ceremony will extend the agreement until 2015.