Tohono O'odham Police Collaborate to Fight Border Problems

The long and seemingly deserted southern border of the Tohono O'Odham Nation attracts drug smugglers and other illicit activities, creating a policing nightmare for the tribal police force. In the years leading up to 2007, the crime statistics were astounding:

• an average of 10,000 arrests per month 
• 1500 wrecked or abandoned vehicles towed every year
• At least 100 tribal members involved in narcotics related activity
• About 350 bodies a year found on the reservation
• Critical cultural and natural areas damaged or destroyed

Tribal police turned to state, federal and other tribal partners for help addressing border security and smuggling. Out of this work, law enforcement agencies in Arizona have developed a model collaborative approach that is transforming tribal policing.

According to Edward Reina, Jr., Director of Public Safety for the Tohono O'odham Nation,  Arizona has become "a model of how states should work with Indian Country." In testimony before the Senate this year, he points to a statutory revision that allows trained and qualified tribal police officers to become state Peace Officers that allows them to arrest all offenders; better training for state officers that has reduced misunderstandings regarding extraditions from tribal lands; better data collection and sharing; continuing cooperation with federal agencies, including the FBI, the US Attorney's office, ICE, DEA, ATF, Border Patrol and BIA Law Enforcement. Stakeholders at the tribal, state and federal level meet monthly to share information, discuss needs, develop programs, seek funding and eliminate duplication of effort.

The result? Tribal police led multi-agency efforts to break up large methamphetamine and cocaine rings on the reservation, placed School Resource Officers in each of the tribe's five schools, built a Fusion Center to collect and store offender data, built a Sex Offender registry, and has developed positive working relationships with dozens of agencies and organizations who share a common interest in solving the problems brought by drug smuggling.

To learn more about how a collaborative approach can help you solve your tribe's law enforcement problems, sign up today for our free webinar on Creating Collaboration Through Community Policing. Alternately, join us for our final Tribal Prescription Drugs and Drug Endangered Children training session in Phoenix, AZ (it's also free!) and talk with Arizona tribal professionals about what's working and what still needs to be better.

Heroin and Crime: How Can We Stop It?

Over the past couple of years, we've been charting the rise of heroin use on our tribal lands. Reservations near big cities have been the first to be affected, but even rural areas are suffering from this blight. Tribal police have seen an associated uptick in crime, too. As the White Earth Public Safety Director and Chief of Police, Randy Goodwin, said, "And along with the drug issue, guess what comes with it. Some of the gangs." One California tribe has seen gangland style killings over heroin deals. A big bust by St. Regis tribal officers resulted in three people being charged with multiple gun and drug felonies. The heroin problem for Minnesota tribes has been especially serious, as demonstrated by recent cases in Spirit Lake and Mille Lacs.

To learn more about why heroin is on the rise, what prescription drugs have to do with the problem, and the next steps for addressing the painkiller to heroin link, join us for a tuition-free webinar, Prescription Drugs to Heroin, Part II on June 26, at 10 am. The last session was full, so be sure to reserve your space now! This webinar will focus on developing community-based partnerships.  By assessing areas of strength and opportunity, members of our tribal communities can work together to protect our greatest resource- our children. Tools and resource links will be provided that can be used across programs to support mutual values.

Finding Our Own Paths To Well-Being

For years, behavioral health and social workers have used a strength-based approach in helping children and families heal from substance abuse, violence, delinquency and similar issues. With Native families, the approach looks a little different. In the Native world view, it's critical to find balance among the different elements of your life. When our lives go off the rails, we can heal ourselves by discovering what elements are out of balance and finding ways to restore that harmony. When the National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA) asked Native families where their strengths lay, the respondents gave the answers above.

While this approach is perfect for families, it also works for organizations. Join us for a free webinar on a strength-based approach to collaboration in protecting drug endangered children- July 10 at 10 am. Register online here. NICWA instructor Nadja Jones will explore how organizations can work together to improve identification, reporting and intervention for drug endangered children. Feel free to download and share the infographic as a jpg or as a PDF.

Drug Endangered Children Face Immediate and Long Term Harm

In 2004, when Governor Dave Freudenthal signed the order creating the Wyoming Alliance for Drug Endangered Children, the order pointed to both the immediate effects and the long-term harm done to children by exposure to toxic drugs, particularly methamphetamine. Besides "profound abuse and neglect, [and] exposure to toxic chemicals and other hazards," children "can be faced with life-long mental and physical health problems" and require "a continuum of care."

 Trainers from the National Alliance DEC have been in Riverton this week to work with local law enforcement who are gradually implementing a collaborative approach to recognize, report and remediate situations where caregivers' drug or alcohol use is threatening their children. In an interview with kcwy13, Riverton police officers also point to the spectrum of harm drug endangered children face. In the short term, they describe how young children can suffer from toxic exposure to drugs: "It can be ingested by the child by just being in the same room if that is being done in that house or residence where that child is playing. Their toys can be contaminated, their food, so it is a huge concern." As the kids get older, the officers say "We see them acting out at school, we see them hanging out on street corners, we see them abusing alcohol and drugs at earlier and earlier ages."

Riverton is stepping up its program in response to several cases of children being endangered by drugs in their environment, particularly with the increase in methamphetamine abuse. Last summer, a couple was arrested for simultaneously dealing meth and running a babysitting business out of their trailer home. Then in the fall, a 1-year old and a 9-month old were suspected of being injected with a drug, leading to their mother's arrest for meth.  Another woman, hallucinating on meth, freaked out customers at the McDonald's by barking like a dog, then sped away with a small child.

From our own tribal communities, we know how problems of substance abuse can pass from one generation to the next. But hope also passes on from one generation to the next, and so does determination to create a better community, starting today. Visit our website for upcoming training opportunities to learn what you can do in your tribal community.

Drug Endangered Children Awareness Day

The National Alliance for Drug Endangered Children observes DEC Awareness Month throughout April, but today is the day everyone involved in helping these children and their families is focusing on solutions. State and tribal DEC Alliances have spent this month getting proclamations signed, coordinating social media campaigns and organizing events with state and local governments. National Alliance DEC Vice President Lori Moriarty has created this short video to highlight why we work so hard to make a difference for drug endangered children and their families.



Do you want to hear more about what Lori has to say? Sign up for one of our tuition-free regional training sessions, where Lori will expand on the role of National DEC in protecting our children. Lori will also be helping tribal professionals develop an action plan for improving identification of drug endangered children in your community through a collaborative approach in a tuition-free webinar this November 6.


If you think drug endangered children deserve more awareness year around, we agree! So does Michele Justice, the owner of Personnel Security Consultants, Inc. We've featured PSC as one of our Native businesses in the spotlight, in part because of their dedication to raising awareness about DEC through their community calendar program. PSC sponsors an annual art contest to gather art from Native students to illustrate the beautiful "Our Children, Our Responsibility" calendar. This beautiful calendar features monthly tips on identifying and reporting DEC in your community, covering topics such as who is a mandated reporter, who receives reports of child abuse, types of abuse and more. The numbers for the childhelp national abuse hotline and the Indian Country child abuse hotline are printed on every page. Use their online order form if you just need a few, but if you are ordering for a large department, contact PSC to discuss bulk rates.

Killing the Pain Is Killing People

As prescription painkillers become harder to obtain, more expensive and less likely to get you high, opiate addicts in many areas are finding that it's cheaper to satisfy their jones with cheap Mexican heroin. Even though prescription drug-related deaths are have outstripped auto accidents in some areas, heroin is even more dangerous, cut as it is with a variety of chemicals, and of unpredictable potency.

While some areas, like Idaho and Montana, are still wrestling more with methamphetamine abuse (and have passed strict laws to control over-the-counter drugs like pseudoephedrine), more urban regions (like Minnesota, New York, Washington and Florida) are definitely seeing an increase in heroin related deaths and prescription overdoses.

Native Americans experience an overdose rate triple that of the general population, but even suburban parents of promising athletes have been seeing sports injuries tragically turn to opiate addiction, then death by overdose.

We've been sounding this alarm for a while now, but 2013 is the year that we're taking action. Sign up for our tribal drugs of abuse and drug endangered children training program to talk about how this deadly trend is impacting public health, public budgets and public safety in Indian Country. At our regional sessions and our May 1 webinar on the prescription drug to heroin link, we'll provide an overview of the problem and then get to work discussing solutions that will work with the resources we have in our communities. 

Prescription Overdoses Continue to Rise For 11th Year

Federal data compiled by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention show that prescription drug deaths rose for the 11th year in a row, to a shocking 38,329 deaths nationwide. The report, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, shows that opioid painkillers like Vicodin and Oxycontin are the primary culprits, accounting for 75% of overdoses. Valium contributed to about 30% of the overdoses.

About 17% of these cases were clearly suicides, but the rest seem to have been accidental. The director of the chemical dependency program at NYC's Beth Israel Medical center told AP, "Right now there's a general belief that because these are pharmaceutical drugs, they're safer than street drugs like heroin. But at some point, people using these drugs are going to become more aware of the dangers."

In response to this growing problem, Indian Country Training is continuing its Tribal Prescription Drug Abuse Program, combined with Drug Endangered Children education, for another year. Intensive two-day regional sessions are scheduled for Albuquerque, Nashville, Spokane and Phoenix. For those who can't travel, or want some additional information, webinars are scheduled for May, July, September and November. Contact Indian Country Training for more information on these tuition-free events.

Drugs of Abuse: Identification and Abatement in Tribal Housing

Learn to recognize the signs of methamphetamine use, prescription drug and over the counter drug abuse, synthetic drug use or heroin use. In addition to identification, participants will learn effective abatement strategies.

Click on the link to learn more about our upcoming training in Scottsdale, AZ. This two day, interactive program is free for Indian Tribe or Tribal Housing Authority employees. Any other participants can register for $50. Click here to register online.