Working the Blue Line: Oneida Indian Nation Police

CANASTOTA -- Joseph Smith runs Central New York's youngest police department. The Oneida Indian Nation police force was established in 1993 - as the Nation's enterprises, including Turning Stone Resort and Casino began to grow to the point where a police department was required to provide safety.

"I didn't know it existed to the extent that it does until I came to work here," said Nation Police Chief Joseph Smith. Smith became a sworn law enforcement officer in 1968 as a State Trooper in the Albany area. "The agreement was I would come here, and if I didn't like it I could leave," Smith says of his recruitment to the Nation Police Department 14 years ago. "It's the youngest department in terms of the number of years it has been established, but when you look at the staff here we have more than one thousand years of experience based on the people who work for this department," Chief Smith added.

http://cnycentral.com/news/local/working-the-blue-line-oneida-indian-nation-police