Assistant Police Chief Chosen--------------------------------------------- ,------
Police and Court Personnel Shuffled
For Stronger Community Services
By Sandy Rangila
In the interest of providing
more effective services to the
community, a personnel and
departmental shuffle involving
the police department, the muni
cipal branch and the Tribal
Court was approved in late July.
Municipal Manager Rudy
Clements announced that Dick
Montee has been appointed to
the newly created position of
Assistant Police Chief, and that
Small Fire Hawk has assumed
the position of Juvenile Service
Head.
Clements also reported that
the two advocates, John Allen
and Daisy Ike, have been swit
ched from the Tribal Court to
the Municipal Branch. The sep
aration of the advocates from
the Tribal Court was felt neces
sary to avoid possible conflict of
interest arising from the dif
ference in their functions.
“For the benefit of the indi
viduals facing the court, there
was a need for a more strength
ened adversary role that advo-
cates have to play,” said Cle
ments. He explained that since
the police department and the
Tribal Court work closely to
gether, the relationship of the'
advocates to the Tribal Court
had to be changed for the sake of
credibility and in the interest of
the clients.
Although the advocates are
now in the municipal branch,
Clayton Earl of the BIA has
been requested to act as their
supervisor, Clements added. He
indicated that since the police
department reports to him, it
would be a bit ticklish to also
have the advocates directly
under his supervision.
Also announced was the
addition of a tribal prosecutor, a
position recently filled by
Brenda Lee. (See separate
story) The prosecutor position
has been assigned to the muni
cipal branch and will be under
the superivison of Clements.
Police Department Changes
Enforcement responsibili
ties have grown rapidly over the
past severalyears, and in an
effort to keep pace with the
needs of the community the posi
tion of an assistant police chief
has been approved. Dick Montee
was selected for the job because
he was the most qualified, ac
cording to Police Chief Jeff
Sanders. Montee has five years
experience as an FBI Agent and
an additional five-years exper
ience as a special investigator
with the BIA.
Sanders views the shuffle in
an optimistic light since it will
free him to concentrate more on
program goals, long-range plan
ning and forecasting. Since the
assistant police chief will relieve
him of much of the on-going
day-to-day activities, the chief
will be able to devote more time
to improving the quality of law
enforcement on the reservation.
He feels that the police de
partment will be in a better
position to work on program
goals, meet management objec
tives, and operate more effec
tively and efficiently. In the
area of improving services to
the community, Sanders plans to
focus more attention upon
“lateral communication” with
other related programs within
the tribal organization such as
the alcohol and drug program,
the Tribal Court, and fire and
Prosecutor Brings New
Image To Tribal Court
by Cynthia Stowell
The creation of a prosecut
or’s office is one way in which
the Tribal Court is changing its
image and moving closer to
compliance with the 1968 Indian
Civil Rights Act. Helping to
shape that office is Brenda Lee,
the Tribes’ first prosecuting
“attorney.”
Not an actual attorney but a
product of the American Indian
Lawyer Training Program’s ad
vocacy project, Brenda, 25,
came to Warm Springs from the
Cheyenne River (S.D.) Tribal
Court where she also developed
a prosecutor’s office.
As prosecutor, Brenda rep
resents the Confederated Tribes
in all criminal cases heard in the
Tribal Court, including such
misdemeanors as driving while
under the influence, assault and
battery, and minor in posses
sion. Felonies are processed in
federal court off the reservation
and all civil cases are handled
by the advocates, Daisy Ike and
Johnny Allen.
When a complaint or a COURT CHANGE - New prosecutor Brenda Lee waited in the courtroom for a trial to begin. She
CDS Photo
police report comes in, Brenda represents The Confederated Tribes in criminal cases.
screens it and if there are suf
ficient grounds for criminal pro
ceedings she files and signs an the next five years to include an
With this change, as well as ing, professionalism and effi
official complaint. She attends assistant prosecutor, investigat the delegation of court admini ciency are growing, noted Wells.
arraignments and when the plea or and secretary.
stration to Norma Smith and The changes should “help people
is “not guilty” she prepares the
investigation coordination to to understand and utilize the
case for trial.
Vicki Still, Judge Wells expects court better,” she said.
The addition of a prosecut cases to be more carefully
Trial preparation involves
screened and the Tribes to be
such research as interviewing or’s office has relieved the chief better represented in court. The
Such facelifts in the Tribal
judge
of
all
pre-trial
responsi
witnesses and reviewing doctors’
Court
and law enforcement sys
chief
judge
has
also
been
freed
or social workers’ reports. The bilities. Previously Judge Irene up to stay current with, the tem are partly the result of the
prosecutor can also perform Wells played the role of prose- ever-changing field of Indian 1968 Indian Civil Rights Act’s
presentence investigations and cutor along with her duties at law.
guarantee of due process to the
the bench. This did not comply
recommend sentencing.
Indian citizen. Although this
with the Indian Civil Rights
means that tribal courts may
The
public
has
been
wary
of
Act’s guarantee of an unbiased
the changes, as yet unconvinced look more “Anglo,” Judge Wells
Since the prosecutor and the judge.
of the benefits. “So many people insists that her court is “a
advocates are officers and not
were used to coming right in and unique set-up” that need not
personnel of the court, their
positions have been placed out
“I know I was not being fair talking to me,” said Wells. “But sacrifice traditional Indian
side the'court in the Municipal to the people using the services now Norma is sticking her foot values. The new prosecutor
agrees, pointing to sentencing as
Branch. Brenda’s salary, how of the court,” admitted Judge out.”
a creative phase of the process
ever, is being paid primarily by Wells, “because I knew the case
where tradition can be main
AILTP, until the 1979 budget is ahead of time. Now I don’t see
Although the personal con-. tained.
in effect. The one-woman de or know anything until I step
Prosecutors are not the most *
tact with the judge is disappear
partment is expected to grow in into the courtroom.”
safety programs.
Prior to the hiring of the
assistant police chief, Sanders
says he felt like he was “running
around putting out spot fires”.
He had to try to handle one crisis
situation after another without
enough time to develop the over
all program so it would function
on a consistently high standard.
“We are emphasizing train
ing and upgrading, making more
demands of department person
nel,” said Sanders. He antici
pates more “departmental re
alignment”, upgrading, and lat
eral transfers will be coming up.
Sanders explained that the
police department is now in the
process of realigning to meet the
needs pointed out in several
evaluations made by independ
ent organizations. A unique
aspect Of the department’s grow
ing responsibilities includes
federal, state, county, and tribal
law enforcement duties.
popular members of a small
community, but as Brenda point
ed out, “they help enforce laws
that the people want.” If the
laws are unfit, it is not the court
or police department’s place to
modify them. (Warm Springs’
antiquated law and order code
will soon be undergoing revision
for the first time since it was
created in 1934.)
As a member of the Cheyen
ne River Tribe and not a local,
Brenda is a new face in Warm
Springs, which in addition to
being a woman makes for some
suspicious glances. But being an
outsider can work in her favor,
since she isn’t likely to run into
the problem of prejudice or
prior knowledge. However, a
prosecutor can disqualify him-
herself in such a situation, she
noted, meaning that tribal
members could easily occupy
the prosecutor’s role. This, in
fact, is one of Brenda’s goals: to
train a local person to take over
her job once the office is well-
established.
Brenda’s personal goals in
clude going to law school and
pursuing a career in legal ad
ministration. She has completed
over three years of pre-law
study at the University of South
Dakota and Jamestown College
in North Dakota as well as her
AILTP training.
AILTP provided the prose
cutor with 500 classroom hours
incriminai and civil law and
legal writing, intensive training
which is equivalent to about two
years of law school study.
Fresh from the more rest
less environment of Cheyenne
River, Brenda is beginning to
adapt to the “easy-does-it”
Warm Springs mode of oper
ation. Established procedures
are not altered overnight and
the judicial system is facing
some major changes. “It’s going
to take time for these changes to
take place,” she said, looking up
Slowly from last week’s Spilyay
Tymoo.