End the ridiculousness - put Tribal cops back to work

I read with much appreciation the police reports generated by law enforcement officers during the investigation of the homicide of Jason Stoltz. Jason was murdered on March 2, 2015. (See story in this edition beginning on page 1.) The incident occurred in the Bugg Hill neighborhood of the Mille Lacs Band Reservation. Naturally, Tribal police were the first on the scene after the 911 call came in. You see, that was back when Tribal cops were allowed access to the county emergency notification system. Tribal police were the closest to the scene. It only made sense for them to be contacted by dispatch.

The Tribal police took the lead on that investigation, according to the reports I read. Mille Lacs County sheriff’s deputies were also dispatched to the original call, and the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension was later called in, but the bulk of the investigation was completed by the Tribal PD. I read through the stack of reports detailing each officer’s involvement and the tasks each performed from the beginning to the end of the investigation. The reports were so detailed it was like watching a “CSI: NY” marathon on Netflix. Only this was CSI: Reservation. Real life.

http://www.messagemedia.co/millelacs/opinion/our_columnists/vivian_lamoore/end-the-ridiculousness---put-tribal-cops-back-to/article_2546d2de-2ead-11e7-b1ac-579ed35b9f60.html