Saturday, April 26, 2008

County closer to cross-commission

Evelyn Cronce El Defensor Chieftain Reporter, ecronce@dchieftain.com

The Socorro County Sheriff's Office and the Navajo Tribal Police are looking forward to the day when criminals can no longer run across the borders between Socorro and the Navajo Nation to escape prosecution.

The process started at a meeting in Alamo in March when officials from both jurisdictions began working with a template from McKinley County. McKinley County and the Navajo Nation have an existing cross-commission agreement giving cross-trained law enforcement officers from the McKinley County Sheriff's Office and the Navajo Tribal Police the ability to act in both jurisdictions.

The agreement was approved by the Socorro County Commission at their March 22 regular meeting, but that was only the first in a round of signatures. From the commission, the documents needed to be signed by the Alamo Chapter, the Navajo Nation and finally Gov. Richardson.

The Socorro Domestic Violence Task Force hosted the second meeting, on April 17, to continue work on the agreement. People from Alamo and from the Navajo Nation attended including Councilor Edmond Yazzi, who represents the district that includes Alamo at the Navajo Nation Council, Capt. Steve Nelson of the Navajo Tribal Police, Stanley Herrera, the Socorro County Commissioner representing Alamo, and Jess Kirwin, a community involvement specialist with the Navajo Nation Division of Social Services.

Yazzi and Nelson were instrumental in hammering out the McKinley County agreement. They said people in the county and on the reservation there are generally happy with the way the agreement is working out. Yazzi said McKinley County and the Nation are currently working on expanding the cross-commission agreement to include a joint DWI task force.

Socorro County and Alamo are still on the ground floor with their agreement. Once all the signatures are in place, many specific details all will need to be worked out.

Nelson stress that the basic cross-commission agreement is for emergencies only.

Socorro Chief Deputy Preciliano "Shorty" Vaiza said he foresees a problem if he encounters an Alamo suspect who does not speak English or Spanish. Vaiza would have difficulty making an arrest if he could not read the defendant his or her Miranda Rights or, in the case of a DWI, read the Implied Consent form.

Nelson said if an officer is working on the reservation, the requirements are different and the Navajo Courts give more weight to officer observations that perhaps the state laws do.

Nelson said he expected in most cases, the Socorro officer would simply detain a suspect until the Tribal Police could send an officer to actually write the complaint and transport the suspect to jail. He said negotiations would have to be conducted to decide the logistics of where and how suspects will be detained. He said it would be up to the prosecutor if the Socorro officer were called for the trial, but the Socorro officer would not be the prosecuting officer in most cases.

Issues like this will necessitate cross-training. Sheriff's officers will need to take a two week course in Tribal Law. At present, Tribal officers will be trained and certified in Arizona and will have to apply for a certified waiver in New Mexico. Vaiza said the New Mexico certification is a matter of paperwork.

Nelson seemed a bit puzzled at the police response time reported by Alamo residents. He said there are two tribal officers assigned to Alamo.

"I've never seen an officer (in Alamo)," said Herrera. "I drive the van twice a day and I haven't seen an officer."

Nelson said that the officers are not on duty 24/7 but should be available on call in an emergency. Residents reported that one of the officers is assigned to the school and they have been told the officer can not leave the school. Nelson disagreed saying the officer was supposed to be available for emergencies. He said he would talk to the school.

"He is our employee. We pay his salary," Nelson said.

Les Torres, adjutant to the sheriff said the cross-commission agreement will not give the people of Alamo an immediate response time. He said about 75 percent of call to the sheriff's office are in the northern part of Socorro County.

"It's a long haul from the northern part of the county and you have to include time to fill your tank," he said.

Torres said Alamo should be in the process of creating their own police force.

Matilda Billy, a social worker for the Nation said the cross-commission might not solve all the problems, but it would be a start and maybe Alamo would be motivated to start a police force.

"Right now, help could be two or three days away," she said. "It's almost like feeding the client to the predator."

Yazzie said he would urge the Alamo residents to put pressure on the Chapter to put pressure on the Navajo Nation to establish a police force there.

At the meeting, Herrera told the group the agreement was on the Chapter's agenda for April 23. At a later date, the Chapter's meeting was rescheduled. Herrera said he hand-carried the agreement to the Chapter members and obtained their signatures. He said the agreement has now been sent to Crownpoint for the necessary signatures from the Nation.

No matter where the document is in the process at the time, the next local meeting for the Alamo/Socorro group is scheduled for Thursday, May 15, beginning at 10 a.m., at the Socorro Public Library, in the second-floor meeting room.

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