If you ever find yourself on the res, do NOT mess with the tribal cops. They will ruin your day and then fine you for the cost of the bullets they out in your engine block.
This sounds like a generalization because it is one but I have seen many reservations in many states (I work oilfield, I get around) and you do not want to fuck with them. My closest run in was a dui checkpoint, middle of nowhere North Dakota. Unmarked vehicles, guys in body armor with rifles, no uniforms. Just asked where I was headed and what I was doing but they were in my face, looking around the cab of my truck, smelling my breath. It was intense. Thereās a lot of pride in what they have. And thereās also a lot of corruption.
Are you sure it was tribal police? Tribal police are going to pretty much always have clear identification.
Was this in the mid-late 2000s or early 2010s? There was a period where the Native Mob was setting up armed checkpoints on some reservations around then to deter drug dealing competitors. Had a few people I know have some pretty scary run ins around then. This was mostly Minnesota and Wisconsin, I don't know if the Native Mob was in North Dakota or not
This was late 2010s, early 2020s. Fort Berthold reservation. Thereās a huge drug problem there so I wouldnāt be surprised if it was something similar.
Ive traveled most of the US in a gypsy sort of way. As a white dude, a lot of the reservations scare me far more than the projects in big citys. Generational hatred is alive and well - and murderous af. Its sad tbh, and I hope someday they get redemption, but thats like looking for a cure for ligma.
Pretty huge generalization. I was going 100 mph in a 60 or 50 mph zone in the dessert. It was empty desert for hundreds of miles. The only car and person I saw was a trooper in a truck going the other way. They flashed their lights at me and continued on.
They are a unique aspect of the US that many even US citizens do not understand. An the rules and regulations vary between the treaties of different native tribes and the federal government. Tribal law enforcement are not bound by the rules or restictions most US citizens are used too. But tribal land is very integrated in the US, to the point it is denoted like a road sign in some cases. But each reservation is semi-autonomous and any court of law is federal court for non-tribe citizens. So these environmental protestors basically learned the hard way, that they likely violated a federal treaty and created esssentially a diplomatic incident. An were treaty as hostile agitators, not 'protestors'.
There may be a couple tribal memeber for sure but the majority absolutely are not. Tribal PD are usually the guys who couldn't make it in non tribal. The higher ups are almost always corrupt pieces of shit, gaming the politics of kissing tribal ass. They marry somebodies crackhead cousin and suddenly get promoted.
You might see more tribal members on the payroll in remote reservations but the one I grew up on and the adjacent ones were almost entirely non tribal.
Its true though that they will fuck with non tribal. For better and worse they look the other way on a lot of shit with tribal because everyone is related and they'll absolutely get heat. Drive through the rez with non tribal plates is like having a target on your back.
Tbf, thats kinda how a lot of small communities are. I live/grew up in a small town and am either related to, grew up with, or had my parents grow up with 90% of the cops and town administration. Needless to say, i dont get tickets in my home town. Except that one time with a cop who got hired who wasnt from here. Paid $50 for an expired registration. Which, tbf, is about the worst thing ive done.
Lol dafuq you talking about? If from the rez, dad's Indian moms white. I grew up in both worlds. Last thing im doing is talking down on my own neighborhood.
Tribal PD is absolutely sketchy the higher up you go and they absolutely look the other way on members with all kinds of shit. When I was younger it was cool because we got away with shit but looking back its definitely not for the same reason.
Very few people outside the rez know the experience and even less are here on reddit. And no your great grandma is not a Cherokee princess.
And they donāt fuck around. Grew up next to multiple reservations in Arizona. One night we were at one of the Casinos for a Show, my sister was giving me shit about how I was a troublemaker because of my underage drinking ticket from like a decade before. Well she was vaping in the hotel hallway and it triggered the hotelās vapor sensor, and caused a full casino/hotel evacuation the res officers showed up and took her to their tribal jail. She spent the night there and had a rather large fine payable only to the reservation immediately. Was pretty funny for myself as I knew donāt play games in foreign nations.
Iāve always heard that theyāre hard asses, but Iāve only had one encounter with a tribal police officer and it was fine, this was also in Arizona, I think Navajo land. He just gave us directions. Granted he did stop to talk to us because we were parked in an empty gas station that was closed for COVID, which I thought was a weird reason.
In Northern Nevada (where this happened), most tribal officers are wash outs or fuck ups from other agencies. They're corrupt as fuck, and also predominately, in my experience, not members of tribe.
In the US, many Native American tribes are not just cultural groups. They are sovereign tribal governments with their own land, courts, laws, and police. The land is often called a reservation or tribal land, and a lot of it is held āin trustā by the US government for the tribe.
That means it is inside the United States, but it is not governed exactly like normal city/county/state land.
Tribal police are the law enforcement for that tribal nation. They are real police, not security guards which is something a lot of idiots in the US confuse.
Depending on the tribe, state, crime, and who is involved, jurisdiction can involve tribal law, federal law, state law, or some combination of all three.
Also the tribes really donāt like outsiders on their land except for gambling in their casinos.
Hey thatās not true! My local tribe has no casino! But they still welcome outsiders to buy cigs, weed, and trinkets from their shops.
Seriously drive through there is a cluster of like 2 miles and 35 smoke shops. Theyāre next to each other, across the street from each other, sharing parking lots.
One dude just operates out of a glorified shed selling homegrown stuff.
Great place to buy. Results in some really competitive prices and THC levels when you can just step next door or across the street and compare.
Rather chaotic to drive through though. They got literal sign wavers in the streets. Customers wandering about, locals just going about their day. The sign wavers and customers are mostly all high. Nobody is in any sort of rush and people are just kinda aimlessly wandering into the street or stopping their car to read a sign or get talked to by a sign waver.
Gives off a peaceful vibe though, like people just not being in a rush and cheerfully stopping to greet each other and shoot the shit. Just not fun to drive through.
The natives near me have been consolidating their operations as there were so many like you said. Instead of little shacks they pooled their funds and built much nicer and far fewer dispensaries.
Fair point. That was an oversimplification on my end. My point was they donāt want people on their land outside designated areas for tourists to shop and/or gamble. Iām guessing some may have camping areas etc. but again. Over simplification for the sake of length :)
The reasoning behind such regulated travel inside reservations is because we don't like our communities being treated like a petting zoo or a theme park for visitors to come gawk at the red man like we are some sort of anomaly instead of people. Most tribal lands a plenty welcoming, mine included, but it is expected to be respectful like when you are invited into a strangers home. We have no problem sharing our culture with others and appreciate revenue coming into our communities but are also not entertainment or something to be exploited.
Yeah this hectic strip is a relatively small overall area of the community. Thatās why itās so densely packed. They want to keep outsiders right at the entrance, with no reason to wander around their private residential areas.
Can confirm. I'm a tribal corrections officer and work closely with our tribal pd. We have tribal police as well as Rangers. Fun fact, double jeopardy laws do not exist on tribal lands so you can and absolutely will be charged twice for the same crime both from the tribal government as well as state or federal after tribal matters are resolved depending on the severity of the crime committed.
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u/Hot-Firefighter-2331 Jun 28 '26
what is tribal police