New power for Tulalip officers includes arrests of non-Indians

Tulalip Tribal Police officers have come to accept people refusing to listen to them.

Traffic citations are torn up, domestic-violence suspects turn their backs on them and people confuse them with casino-security staff.

Since the department was created 11 years ago, the tribe has lobbied legislators and the Snohomish County sheriff's office to grant their officers powers beyond writing up traffic infractions and arresting tribal members living on the reservation.

With the help of a new Tulalip Tribes police chief and a new county sheriff — each with a deep knowledge of state politics — the tribe's push for more powers became state law this year.

Chief among those new powers is the ability of tribal officers to arrest non-Indians.

Tulalip officers who have fulfilled a set of requirements earned their new police powers on Friday. Seventeen of the department's 22 officers swore to uphold federal, state and county laws when they were deputized Friday by Sheriff John Lovick.

"This is another step for our community, our people," said Marlin Fryberg Jr., a reserve police officer and tribal board member. "We're finally ready. Our guys are equally trained."

Rep. John McCoy, D-Tulalip, who has been working to widen tribal police powers for years, said it was a big day for the tribe.

Tulalip Police Chief Scott Smith had his work cut out for him before the swearing in.

When he left his position as chief of the Mountlake Terrace Police Department, he had to pore over each officer's personnel file.

He learned that many tribal officers hadn't had thorough background checks or polygraph examinations. He eventually fired one officer and demoted a sergeant.

He also found that many of his officers needed more training. Several had to enroll in an equivalency course offered by the state Criminal Justice Training Commission to supplement the federal police academy they attended.

The rest of the officers, he said, have graduated from the state police academy offered to all officers in Washington state.

Doug Blair, training commission deputy director, said the academy has seen an increase in tribal officers enrolling in the equivalency course since the tribal legislation passed.

"These guys are top-notch," Smith said about his department. "They're well-trained; they're technically proficient."

Lovick said he hopes to help the young police department gain additional training by letting a deputy and a police officer trade places at each agency for a few months at a time. Lovick and Smith say that letting tribal officers arrest non-Indians will drastically reduce the workload for deputies racing to 911 calls on the reservation.

"We're all chasing the same bad guys. It's going to make our communities safer," Lovick said.

Tulalip Officer Michael Johnsen said it's not uncommon to wait more than a half-hour for a sheriff's deputy to respond to a 911 call.

"We have been hamstrung, and it has turned the reservation into a haven to commit crimes," Johnsen said.

Smith said that in addition to new policing powers, his officers will get an opportunity to participate in department specialty units — SWAT, traffic accident reconstruction and narcotics.

The FBI will continue investigating homicides and other major crimes on reservation lands.

Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com