June 1, 2021
The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that tribal police can detain non-tribe members in certain circumstances, despite a general prohibition on tribal authorities imposing their law on others, because to do otherwise would make it hard for tribes to protect themselves from ongoing threats. (File photo by Vandana Ravikumar/Cronkite News)
WASHINGTON – Tribal police have the authority to detain non-Natives traveling through reservation land if the officer has a reasonable belief that the suspect violated state or federal law, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.
The unanimous ruling overturned lower courts that said a Crow police officer should not have held a nontribal member who was found to have drugs and weapons in his truck. The Supreme Court said that the lower courts’ rulings would “make it difficult for tribes to protect themselves against ongoing threats.”