California, Hopland Reservation

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Tribal police force breaking new ground

The Ukiah Daily Journal
By CAROLE BRODSKY
Updated: 03/28/2009 12:03:58 AM PDT



Martin McCarthy, the chief of the Hopland Tribal Police Department, probably never guessed where his career would take him.

With more than 20 years in law enforcement, McCarthy, who received a Peace Officer of the Year award from State Assemblywoman Bev Hansen, has done it all. He has worked as an expert witness, a training and watch commander, undercover narcotics and vice officer, and helped the Federal Transportation Security Administration initiate new security measures at the Sacramento International Airport. He became the Assistant Director of Public Safety for the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law and in 2007 came to Hopland as Chief of Police for the tribe, after serving as a sergeant in 2003.

His combination of on-the-street and administrative expertise gave him a unique view of the problems and challenges of policing a sovereign nation. Tribal lands are subject to a different and extremely complex set of federal regulations which can supersede state and local laws. "Tribal policing is new to California," says McCarthy, and it has become his passion and his mission to create a new kind of tribal police force which can be replicated throughout the state and throughout the nation.

"Hopland is a federally recognized tribe," says McCarthy, but from there the story of how to enforce the law on tribal land gets complicated. Regulations from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the federal government - as well as a law passed in the 1950s - Public Law 280 - all affect the interpretation and enforcement of tribal law. The actual structure of a tribal police force is not governed by a specific set of policies. "Most reservations currently use tribal security police," says McCarthy, who are not subject to uniform standards of training and education. When McCarthy came to Hopland, he began a methodical process to bring the tribal police force to a higher standard of performance.

"In 2004, the Tribal Council passed an ordinance creating our police department," says McCarthy. "We began a strategy to become accepted by local law enforcement." McCarthy began meeting with District Attorney Meredith Lintott and Sheriff Tom Allman, to create stronger bonds between tribal and local law enforcement.

"We started off by hiring officers who must be trained to POST standards," McCarty explains. "We created an MOU with the Sheriff's Office to accept prisoners in the county jail." Currently, says McCarthy, there is not one tribal jail in the state of California. "We worked with the district attorney and the Board of Supervisors to create a policy so that crimes committed on tribal land can be prosecuted."

While this may sound like common sense, McCarthy stresses that the formalizing of these policies is unprecedented. Special Law Enforcement Certifications - agreements with the Bureau of Indian Affairs that allow enforcement of federal laws on tribal lands under specific conditions - were obtained for the Hopland tribe so that tribal police are recognized as federalized officers.

"We had to sue to get the certifications," says McCarthy. "We are the only tribe in Northern California and one of only four in the state with SLEC." All of these innovations have put the police department on the map, and tribes across the country are looking toward Hopland for advice and solutions to complex jurisdictional and enforcement issues.

"We could not have done this without the foresight and innovation of the Tribal Council," stresses McCarthy. "We have an excellent relationship with the Sheriff's Office - a cooperative working relationship. That's exactly what the feds and state want."

McCarthy has several dreams; one is to someday be able to deputize the tribal police. "It is absolutely not my intention to replace our sheriff's officers," says McCarthy. "We all have budgetary issues - gaming doesn't guarantee a wealthy tribe. I would just like to see our officers be of assistance to the sheriff's department whenever it was appropriate."

The tribal police work closely with the sheriff's department, particularly when a serious, felony-level crime is involved. McCarthy said he never hesitates to involve the Sheriff's Office from the start, and it is this cooperative arrangement that is bringing national attention.

"I was honored to be asked to produce a two-hour reference training video for law enforcement officers, on Tribal Policing in California," says McCarthy.

The Tribal Council is McCarthy's boss, and he reports in writing to the council just as any police chief would provide reports. Tribal court is convened for appropriate offenders, and though the sentences may look different, such as serving part of a sentence in the sweat lodge, the punishment meted out by a community of peers, and in some cases relatives and friends, can be just as humbling.

Because of the interplay between tribal and federal laws, what happens on tribal land can have unique consequences. "On a reservation, there is no double jeopardy clause," says McCarthy. "You can be tried by the state and again by the tribe." Other local and state laws may not apply. For example, holders of medical marijuana cards may be surprised to know that the cards are not recognized in a sovereign nation. "If someone is smoking a joint outside the casino and has a medical card, they are violating the federal law here."

Other aspects of law enforcement on the reservation are unique. "We are the first tribal police department to successfully seize assets derived from drug deals," says McCarthy. "This case had to go all the way up to the U.S. Attorney General."

"We are working toward the creation of a drug court," says McCarthy. Like non-tribal communities, meth continues to be a problem. "I have declared an all-out war on meth," says McCarthy.

His biggest dream is to create a statewide tribal police organization. "Other tribal police departments are looking at us and seeing what we're doing. "

Presiding over 2,000 acres, 300 residents and more than 800 tribal members, plus the thousands of visitors to the casino each week, McCarthy has a lot of work on his hands. "I would like to see a Joint Powers Authority with other tribes, so that we can share resources, work out agreements and cooperate with each other." One such agreement with the Redwood Valley Rancheria is close to completion.

McCarthy says he's confident the foundation he is laying will continue to grow, making his community and many others safer, and making it easier for law enforcement to work with local agencies, the federal government and the citizens they are sworn to protect. "It takes years and years and lots of infrastructure to develop a police force."