Pokagon Tribal Police

Again, the 2021 year for Tribal Police was trying due to COVID. Many things started to get back to normal, but many things are becoming second nature as well with COVID still lingering with us. Tribal Police use to have quarterly meetings for the entire department. We have not been able to have the entire department together since COVID started. Online video meetings have become the norm and have been sectioned down to different divisions instead of everyone together. As with everyone else, it creates some minor communication issues. Deputy Chief Mike Bradley continues to facilitate the Health Task Force overseeing the current COVID pandemic. Key players in the Task Force have been the Director of PHS, Dr. Morris, Ed Williams, the Government Manager and the HR Director. Many other Directors have assisted and been along with this rollercoaster of a virus. The Task Force continues to monitor the current environment as it relates to COVID and offer suggestions to Tribal Council in order to keep all citizens and employees safe.

Tribal Police 2021 Statistics

COMPLAINTS TAKEN 3,941

MILES DRIVEN 506,534

ASSISTANCE TO OTHER AGENCIES 2,546

ALARMS 185 COMMUNITY RESOURCE ACTIVITIES 251 CASINO

MONEY ESCORTS 327 PROPERTY INSPECTIONS 21,860

VERBAL WARNINGS 1,255 TRAFFIC STOPS 1,375

TRIBAL CITATIONS 83

INDIANA CITATIONS 30

MICHIGAN CITATIONS 350

FEDERAL ARRESTS 3

FELONY ARRESTS 191

MISDEMEANOR ARRESTS 327

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POLICE

The Tribal Police Department was very excited to welcome Matt Orvis to the Tribal Police Department this year. Matt is a Tribal Citizen and had been working with Facilities. Matt has tossed around being a police officer for awhile and finally after several meetings decided to take the leap. Matt had to go through 16 weeks of training through the Kalamazoo Valley Community College Region Michigan Police Academy. Police are para-military, so there were things such as physical training and defensive tactics that tend to be physically demanding on the body similar to boot camp in the military. Many courses from Criminal Investigations to Emergency Vehicle Operations were taught. Once complete, Matt had to take and pass a state licensing test before being able to be a licensed police officer. Matt of course passed and we are very happy to have him as part of our family. Many pieces of equipment are very important these days for police work, but none hardly more important than body cameras. Body cameras for police tell the entire story of any situation that may happen, thus leaving out any questions. We are happy that Tribal Council felt the same way and supported the purchase of body cameras for every officer in the department. The Police Department had already implemented a Body Cam program, but we added to it with being able to have every officer have one. The Police Department has officers on area County SWAT teams. We were proud to be able to expand some of those special teams opportunities by adding one of our Conservation Officers, Kevin Modlin to the Cass County Dive Team. Kevin had to go through the proper Dive trainings and become certified to be able to be on the team. We are very proud that Kevin has accomplished that certification and is working with Cass County’s dive team. The Police Department also teamed up this year with The First Responder’s Children’s Foundation. This has been a great program as we were able to help supply backpacks to every Pokagon student that needed one. The program was also expanded for different give-a-ways of everything from footballs and Frisbees to toys for kids. At Christmas, we also helped in giving toys to anyone that wanted them to help toward Christmas during the Christmas basket pick-ups.

The Department also participated in “No Shave November” again. This is a campaign to bring cancer awareness to the forefront. Officers are able to grow facial hair and also take in donations to help someone that is suffering from cancer. We were proud to be able to give a gift of $3,145.00 and donate that to Heather Pauley, a tribal citizen who has been facing that challenge. A huge thank you to Dr. Morris for helping us with this campaign as well. Lastly, we continue to work on our Indiana initiative of becoming a recognized Law Enforcement agency in Indiana as well as getting our officers licensed in Indiana as they are in Michigan. We have been working hard with our lobbyists and politicians in Northern Indiana to draft a Senate Bill that will accomplish this. We expect finalization of that sometime in the first quarter of 2022. We look forward to a handful of projects and new ideas in 2022. We thank everyone involved in helping make 2021 succesful.

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THEY WORKED ON IT

Design Lisa Vetne Editing David Gutierrez Photography Jessica Hightower and Clyde Brazie Jr Artwork Nick Dillingham, Christine Morseau, John Pigeon, Rhonda Rose, Cousin Topash, and Linda Yazel

Beaded Mittens, Rhonda Rose

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A SOVEREIGN NATION WHO PROMOTES OUR CULTURE AND STRIVES TO EMPOWER POKÉGNEK FAMILIES.