TRIBAL POLICE FORCE BREAKING NEW GROUND

Martin McCarthy, the chief of the Hopland Tribal Police Department,
probably never guessed where his career would take him.

With more than 20 years in law enforcement, McCarthy, who received a
Peace Officer of the Year award from State Assemblywoman Bev Hansen,
has done it all. He has worked as an expert witness, a training and
watch commander, undercover narcotics and vice officer, and helped
the Federal Transportation Security Administration initiate new
security measures at the Sacramento International Airport. He became
the Assistant Director of Public Safety for the University of the
Pacific McGeorge School of Law and in 2007 came to Hopland as Chief
of Police for the tribe, after serving as a sergeant in 2003.

His combination of on-the-street and administrative expertise gave
him a unique view of the problems and challenges of policing a
sovereign nation. Tribal lands are subject to a different and
extremely complex set of federal regulations which can supersede
state and local laws. "Tribal policing is new to California," says
McCarthy, and it has become his passion and his mission to create a
new kind of tribal police force which can be replicated throughout
the state and throughout the nation.

"Hopland is a federally recognized tribe," says McCarthy, but from
there the story of how to enforce the law on tribal land gets
complicated. Regulations from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the
federal government - as well as a law passed in the 1950s - Public
Law 280 - all affect the interpretation and enforcement of tribal
law. The actual structure of a tribal police force is not governed by
a specific set of policies. "Most reservations currently use tribal
security police," says McCarthy, who are not subject to uniform
standards of training and education. When McCarthy came to Hopland,
he began a methodical process to bring the tribal police force to a
higher standard of performance.

"In 2004, the Tribal Council passed an ordinance creating our police
department," says McCarthy. "We began a strategy to become accepted
by local law enforcement." McCarthy began meeting with District
Attorney Meredith Lintott and Sheriff Tom Allman, to create stronger
bonds between tribal and local law enforcement.

"We started off by hiring officers who must be trained to POST
standards," McCarty explains. "We created an MOU with the Sheriff's
Office to accept prisoners in the county jail." Currently, says
McCarthy, there is not one tribal jail in the state of California.
"We worked with the district attorney and the Board of Supervisors to
create a policy so that crimes committed on tribal land can be prosecuted."

While this may sound like common sense, McCarthy stresses that the
formalizing of these policies is unprecedented. Special Law
Enforcement Certifications - agreements with the Bureau of Indian
Affairs that allow enforcement of federal laws on tribal lands under
specific conditions - were obtained for the Hopland tribe so that
tribal police are recognized as federalized officers.

"We had to sue to get the certifications," says McCarthy. "We are the
only tribe in Northern California and one of only four in the state
with SLEC." All of these innovations have put the police department
on the map, and tribes across the country are looking toward Hopland
for advice and solutions to complex jurisdictional and enforcement issues.

"We could not have done this without the foresight and innovation of
the Tribal Council," stresses McCarthy. "We have an excellent
relationship with the Sheriff's Office - a cooperative working
relationship. That's exactly what the feds and state want."

McCarthy has several dreams; one is to someday be able to deputize
the tribal police. "It is absolutely not my intention to replace our
sheriff's officers," says McCarthy. "We all have budgetary issues -
gaming doesn't guarantee a wealthy tribe. I would just like to see
our officers be of assistance to the sheriff's department whenever it
was appropriate."

The tribal police work closely with the sheriff's department,
particularly when a serious, felony-level crime is involved. McCarthy
said he never hesitates to involve the Sheriff's Office from the
start, and it is this cooperative arrangement that is bringing
national attention.

"I was honored to be asked to produce a two-hour reference training
video for law enforcement officers, on Tribal Policing in
California," says McCarthy.

The Tribal Council is McCarthy's boss, and he reports in writing to
the council just as any police chief would provide reports. Tribal
court is convened for appropriate offenders, and though the sentences
may look different, such as serving part of a sentence in the sweat
lodge, the punishment meted out by a community of peers, and in some
cases relatives and friends, can be just as humbling.

Because of the interplay between tribal and federal laws, what
happens on tribal land can have unique consequences. "On a
reservation, there is no double jeopardy clause," says McCarthy. "You
can be tried by the state and again by the tribe." Other local and
state laws may not apply. For example, holders of medical marijuana
cards may be surprised to know that the cards are not recognized in a
sovereign nation. "If someone is smoking a joint outside the casino
and has a medical card, they are violating the federal law here."

Other aspects of law enforcement on the reservation are unique. "We
are the first tribal police department to successfully seize assets
derived from drug deals," says McCarthy. "This case had to go all the
way up to the U.S. Attorney General."

"We are working toward the creation of a drug court," says McCarthy.
Like non-tribal communities, meth continues to be a problem. "I have
declared an all-out war on meth," says McCarthy.

His biggest dream is to create a statewide tribal police
organization. "Other tribal police departments are looking at us and
seeing what we're doing. "

Presiding over 2,000 acres, 300 residents and more than 800 tribal
members, plus the thousands of visitors to the casino each week,
McCarthy has a lot of work on his hands. "I would like to see a Joint
Powers Authority with other tribes, so that we can share resources,
work out agreements and cooperate with each other." One such
agreement with the Redwood Valley Rancheria is close to completion.

McCarthy says he's confident the foundation he is laying will
continue to grow, making his community and many others safer, and
making it easier for law enforcement to work with local agencies, the
federal government and the citizens they are sworn to protect. "It
takes years and years and lots of infrastructure to develop a police force."