The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #68747 Message #1517982
Posted By: Stilly River Sage
08-Jul-05 - 09:47 AM
Thread Name: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
Subject: RE: BS: I Read it in the Newspaper
I agree with the tribal police chief: the complaints are entirely racial, and if people in Washington thought about it, they'd realize they've been lucky for years that the tribe didn't enforce strict laws on the highway. They are probably entitled to, should they choose to. Visit tribal lands in many other states and there are signs telling you you've entered the tribal domain. I think the Tulalip administration should do the same. (Tulalip isn't a tribal name, it represents an amalgam of tribes who reside on this reservation).
Let them get revenue from the speeders, and at the same time, that one act would lower the death rate on this dangerous stretch of road. I'd hazard a guess that speed is the single most significant factor in the many crashes that take place here.
SRS
Published: Friday, July 8, 2005
Use of Tulalip police on I-5 prompts complaints
By Diana Hefley and Scott North, Herald Writers
MARYSVILLE - An effort to crack down on speeders along a dangerous stretch of I-5 near Marysville has added fuel to a smoldering dispute between Tulalip tribal police and the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office. County officials and Sheriff Rick Bart said they received complaints about Tulalip police officers stopping cars along I-5 over the weekend. They've asked the county prosecutors and the state Attorney General's Office to study whether it was legal.
The tribal officers were part of a multiagency patrol on the freeway between Marysville and Smokey Point coordinated by the Washington State Patrol. That's where the state recently lowered the speed limit from 70 mph to 60 mph in an effort to reduce accidents. "The whole mission is to save lives, and we can't do it alone," State Patrol Capt. Jim Lever said.
Bart said Thursday that he didn't know tribal police were involved, and he was unprepared to answer questions when he began getting complaints.
Tulalip Police Chief Jay Goss said his officers were asked to participate and have the authority to make stops on the freeway where it runs through the reservation.
"I agree with the state's position to lower the speed limit," Goss said. "We participated as part of another law enforcement agency."
State Patrol troopers have focused on the freeway since July 1, when the new speed limit went into effect. In addition to tribal officers, they sought assistance from police in Everett and Monroe, as well as the sheriff's office. The effort was part of the Pro-Active Community Enforcement patrols that police have used throughout the county to crack down on drunken drivers, seat-belt violators and aggressive drivers.
The State Patrol has good relationships with the Tulalip tribal police and the sheriff's office, Lever said.
The patrols were primarily to warn drivers to slow down and observe the speed limit. Tribal officers did not participate once the focus shifted to writing tickets.
County officials early this week began fielding complaints about the tribal officers' participation. Some questioned their authority to make freeway stops.
County Councilman John Koster, whose council district includes the stretch of I-5 where the controversy was brewing, said he wished there would have been more communication.
"I had calls," he said. "I saw the Tulalip police with people stopped."
Koster said the people who contacted him asked whether tribal police could legally enforce traffic laws on the interstate.
"Apparently, the State Patrol didn't even notify the sheriff," Koster said.
Tulalip officers typically don't patrol the freeway, but they have authority to do so because the section from Fourth Street to 140th Street NW is on tribal trust land, Goss said.
That stretch of road is being scrutinized by the state Department of Transportation after a number of fatal crashes. Engineers are evaluating the use of cable barriers in the median. While accident data show the barriers work the majority of the time, an analysis by The Herald found that in a three-mile stretch the cables failed to stop cars crossing the median 20 percent of the time between 1999 and 2004.
Goss said his office took one complaint.
"The vast majority were complimentary" about the officers' efforts, he said.
Bart said five people complained to him. He said tribal officers can't stop people on the freeway without explicit permission from him, and that Goss should have asked first.
The sheriff said disputes about tribal police jurisdiction have been ongoing, and he has asked for direction from the county prosecutor's office and Attorney General's Office.
"Until these questions are answered, we're going to have problems," he said.
The prosecutor's office hasn't heard complaints from anyone who actually got a ticket from a tribal police officer, said Mark Roe, the county's chief criminal deputy prosecutor.
Roe said he phoned Goss when he heard some were asking questions. He said the two have long enjoyed a good working relationship.
"As with any situation, it all boils down to facts, what happened and what didn't," Roe said. "If they were asked to help tell people, 'Hey, you need to slow down or the next time you get a ticket,' I don't' see any problem with that."
Goss, however, believes there is more to the issue than questions about jurisdiction and unhappy speeders.
"I think people need to examine in their hearts why they are objecting," he said. "I think it's about race. They weren't complaining about the other officers."