After the January 4th swearing of Darrell Flyingman as governor one of the first things he did was nominate Dale Hamilton for consideration as Acting Chief of Police for the Tribes. This caused an immediate reaction from Eddie Hamilton who immediately circulated a memo claiming Darrell Flyingman is posing as the governor and has no authority to act on behalf of the Tribe. They even went so far as to claim in their memo that Currently there is not a provision within the Tribes Law and Order Code which allows for a tribal police force at this time. That is simply not true, as yes there is a provision within our Law and Order Code that does allow for and outline the procedures for our own tribal police force. And if that is not enough for Eddie Hamilton there was even legislation passed in the 3rd legislature outlining the procedures for establishing our own tribal police force. The section from our law and order code can be read on the Native American Rights Fund, National Indian Law Library webpage here. narf.org/nill/Codes/cheyaracode/police.htm Eddie Hamilton even went on to state in his memo he was sending copies of Flyingmans nomination of an acting Chief of police to the U.S. Marshals office, the BIA Law Enforcement and other agencies. Karma then came along and bit Eddie as the BIA then issued a statement not recognizing Eddie as being the rightful governor along with Flyingman until a decision from the pending IBIA case comes out. His conduct in light of this development is very curious for someone who just recently took an oath to support, defend, and enforce the laws of our nation. But then again when you think of all the illegal acts and embezzlement of the previous administration that he was a part of, then his behavior in not wanting a legitimate law enforcement agency in the Tribe begins to make sense. I am sure Eddie Hamilton would like our Tribe to have no Law Enforcement of its own and instead stay dependent on BIA Law Enforcement, which has done nothing so far to arrest and prosecute the blatant embezzlement that has been exposed so far. The Tribe was not always dependent on the BIA for law enforcement and had its own police force not so long ago. But then as now the infighting and the opposing sides trying to use the police force against each other resulted in a police force that was as broken the officials in charge. Tribal police officers were hired that shouldnt of been and very unprofessional and outright criminal behavior by some led to the BIA assuming control of law enforcement. This decision was litigated by the 33rd business committee against the BIA up to the IBIA and the details and decision of that 2004 case can be read here. .oha.doi.gov/IBIA/IbiaDecisions/39ibia/39ibia253.PDF Tribal members should realize that that the decision of the BIA to reassume law enforcement duties for the Tribe is not a permanent one. In the final conclusions of the IBIA decision it even states The reassumption does not prevent the Tribes from taking the steps necessary to better prepare to perform a law enforcement program contract in the future The Tribe can and should establish its own police force and Darrell Flyingman is taking his duty seriously in starting the process to do just that. There have been cases lately when law enforcement was needed by Tribal members and the help that was given ended up coming at the barrel of a gun. In my opinion our own people hired to protect and serve their own family and tribal members would not be so trigger happy. Tribal members should support our own police force to protect and serve our own. Our best and bravest should have the opportunity to do just that and Tribal members should be able to call on them in time of need. Lets stand on our own and not be dependent on an outside agency to enforce our laws. It is our responsibility.
Posted on: Wed, 15 Jan 2014 21:58:07 +0000
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