CABAZON INDIAN RESERVATION, Calif. - Cabazon police Sgt. Ronald Karr has nearly all the privileges bestowed upon most other police officers in California - except one.
He can arrest people, write tickets, carry weapons, and respond to emergencies in a patrol car that comes equipped with wailing siren and flashing lights.
But what Karr - and every other tribal police officer in California - can't do is tap into state and federal law enforcement databases allowing them to check for criminal records and outstanding warrants on the people they stop.
Without that access, routinely made available to nontribal police, Karr and other tribal officers say they can run into trouble gathering even such basic information as a person's home address.
"You just don't know what's going on. You don't know whether someone has just robbed a bank or escaped from jail," said Karr, 52, as he patrolled the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians reservation in Riverside County. "Without that kind of information, you're really in the dark. It's a scary feeling."
California, tribal officials say, is one of only a few states to deny such information to tribal police officers. State officials say they worry that if the information were used for nonofficial business, they would have no power to hold the sovereign nations accountable.
"Tribes are sovereign, not bound by state law," said California attorney general spokesman Nathan Barankin. "So unless the tribe is willing to waive its sovereignty in some way or a state or local government agency wants to assume accountability on behalf of that tribe, there's no way to make a tribe bound by California law."
At least a few sworn, nontribal police officers in the state, Barankin said, have lost their privileges in recent years for using the information for personal gain.
The California Tribal Police Chiefs Association, which has filed suit in Riverside County Superior Court to obtain information about arrests and convictions, believes discrimination might be a reason behind the ban.
"The potential for abuse exists everywhere, not just on reservations," said Michael Meese, police chief for the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians in Northern California.
Tribal officials say public safety is becoming increasingly important on reservations because the booming gambling industry has drawn more people to Indian-run casinos.
"In order to do our job effectively we have to have the tools," said Stan Kephart, police chief of the Cabazon tribe.
