Jemez Pueblo police hit a different kind of jackpot

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Jemez Pueblo doesn’t have a casino. But pueblo leaders have found a moneymaker estimated to generate up to half a million dollars a year: the traffic ticket.

Over the past year, Jemez Pueblo police officers who have been commissioned by the state of New Mexico have cited thousands of non-Indian drivers into tribal court for traffic offenses.

At the same time, the pueblo has sought and obtained money from a state law enforcement protection fund that prohibits recipients from ticketing non-Indians into tribal court.

http://www.abqjournal.com/629096/news/jeme-zpueblo-police-hit-different-kind-of-jackpot.html