Indian Reservation

Anybody had any experience with BE in a reservation? I want to be sure what we can and can't do there. I know they have their "own" laws, so I was just curious how enforceable an arrest warrant is there. In particular, Oklahoma.

Reservations are lands held in trust by the United States for American Indians, Indian tribes, and Alaska Natives and at this it would probably be more likely that you will win the lottery 20x in a row than get permission by the Feds to go onto Rez land for that purpose.

It's the whole nation within a nation thing.

Now you MIGHT be able to get permission from the tribal council or head of the tribe of the reservation you wish to "hunt" on before you go running around on rez land.

Could get pretty dicey as well as there are a lot of angry native americans (and rightly so) who may not take too kindly to you if they percieve you are unjustly after 'one of theirs'. So if you do get permission you may want to see if you can "hire" a "guide".

Even the feds have to follow a certain procedure when entering reservation land.

In any case you are probably safer bounty hunting in a "no hunt" state then on a rez without a GOOD working relationship with the local indians.

You may try contacting the Bureau of Indian Affairs for more info.

http://www.doi.gov/bureau-indian-affairs.html

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-The Solution-
Indiana Agency #: PI20700211
Indiana Notary Public - Exp: 12/20/13

"Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Be brave and upright that God may love thee. Speak the truth always, even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless and do no wrong. That is your oath."
- Kingdom of Heaven

Thanks Don. Yeah it sure seems like it is far greater hassle than the payout would be anyway. This guy is just a loser and screwed a bunch of people...oh well, we will always be ready to greet him warmly should he ever decide to visit Texas again.

If you have evidence this guy is a menace you may try approaching the tribal council or "leader" of the rez you know he is on.

If you can convince them that this guy is an embarassment or even a threat to them, they may even deliver the guy to you.

_________________
-The Solution-
Indiana Agency #: PI20700211
Indiana Notary Public - Exp: 12/20/13

"Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Be brave and upright that God may love thee. Speak the truth always, even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless and do no wrong. That is your oath."
- Kingdom of Heaven

The first thing you need to check is if this guy is a registered Native American. If he does not have an "Indian Registration Number" then the reservation laws will not protect him even if he is hiding out there.

Secondly, if he is registered and under their protection, contact the Tribal Council or chief district attorney and ask them what they would require from the court to turn him over to you. I seem to remember the last time we dealt with a Tribe in NM, they wanted a full copy of the charges, evidence, and potential sentencing. If they determined it something that would have violated Tribal laws, and the punishment would be equivalent under Tribal laws, they would issue a "Tribal warrant" and pick him up on it. Then he would be available for extradition to the appropriate court jurisdiction under the original charges.

In our case, the reservation land was dotted with county and state pockets so it made a difference which foot of land you found him on as to who had jurisdiction. We had two Tribal PO's, a sheriff deputy and a state trooper that took us out to the several houses he might be at. Of course as soon as they hit the first one, he was warned and ran, but we did have assistance by whoever might have had arrest authority if we had found him. Our guy had a history on the reservation as well, so they were only to happy to send him away.

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Kathy Blackshear
Blackshear Investigations
Blackshear Bail Bonds
Sales Associate, Prepaid Legal Services, Inc.
Walsenburg, CO

Proud Member of the AB Reject Club

Excellent advice from Kathy, You should definatley follow up on it.

_________________
-The Solution-
Indiana Agency #: PI20700211
Indiana Notary Public - Exp: 12/20/13

"Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Be brave and upright that God may love thee. Speak the truth always, even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless and do no wrong. That is your oath."
- Kingdom of Heaven

Thank's, Don.

We always try to research, know, and follow the laws anywhere we go. That keeps us out of trouble, and also will give us, or any other bond agent we are working for, legal rights if the defendant tries to sue or fight the arrest under some sort of false arrest charge.

In this particular case, the guy was "protected under Tribal law," however the bondsman later found out that he was exonerated (as he thought from the paperwork the defendant had provided) once the defendant had signed the plea agreement and had been sentenced. The court tried to hold the agent responsible for the defendant not complying with the sentencing agreement, which is (in our state) well beyond the bond agreement.

This particular county is well known for trying to hold bond agents liable even after a case is closed. I have had to file several motions with them, as well as preparing them for other BA's pointing out that we did our jobs and pretty much forcing the judge to comply with my state laws on them.

The agent hadn't given us the full information, because he wasn't aware of all of the facts and laws until after we had been there, trying to pick the guy up. If he had told us everything, we could have told him that he should have already been exonerated and typed up the motions he needed to file to show this for much less that the attorney charged him.

The only real apprehension rights that we had, once all the facts were known, was that my local DA also had a probation violation warrant for the guy, and she had given us an authorization to pick him up on that warrant.

The FTA that the court from the other county had issued to my bondsman was illegal, even though the agent didn't know that until later. Had we made an apprehension purely on the FTA, it would have been illegal, and if the defendant was smart enough to know this, could have been overturned, and we could have been charged will false imprisonment.

This is why it is so important to know all of your local laws, as well as any that apply to another state that you may travel into or through. I have stopped working for agents who wanted me to do illegal things in order to find and/or apprehend a skip. I don't have a problem with pretexting, lying, or threatening a skip, cosigner, or relative, as long as I do it legally. But, I will not break the law to do so. I use very specific indemnitor forms and privacy act waivers, so that I can collect pretty much any information that is available on them. Many other bond agents do not see the need for this, even if I have provided then with the forms, so we have problems when working for them.

As long as you stay legal, you should have no problems. This is your main issue, no matter where you are working. Follow your local laws, and any in which you have to work. You have to stay within the law, period.

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Kathy Blackshear
Blackshear Investigations
Blackshear Bail Bonds
Sales Associate, Prepaid Legal Services, Inc.
Walsenburg, CO

Proud Member of the AB Reject Club

Thanks for the great advice and understanding! I am pretty sure his WIFE is the Native American and he is just along for the "hide". As soon as he found out he was going to jail for a long time, he headed for the hills and basically told the Bondsman "Catch me if you can".

If that turns out to be true he will be easier to catch than you think the, tribal elders do not want him either and should hand him over.

If your fugitive has a felony warrant, entered into NCIC with extradition then all you have to do is the standard LEO check in with the Tribal Police. That Simple.

You also need to determine if his job is off the reservation, then you simply take him at his job.

Otherwise, You can do a LEO check in with the local S.O. 's office. They usually have a working relationship with the Tribal Police and chances are he has a record with them as well. They can tell you where his off-reservation haunts are. Then it's a simple matter of surveillance, ambush, capture...1,2,3...

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River City Associates
Decatur, Al. 35601