Kitsap County Sheriff Gary Simpson and Suquamish Police Chief Mike Lasnier are pleased to announce that Kitsap County and the Suquamish Tribe have entered into an agreement to provide better and more efficient police services on the Port Madison Reservation. Effective July 1, 2017, Suquamish Police Officers will have state authority to:

•  issue state citations to non-Indians for state traffic violations on the reservation.
• pursue non-tribal traffic law violators and fleeing suspects past reservation boundaries.
• under certain circumstances, arrest non-Indians for state crimes committed on the reservation.

The agreement is part of a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Suquamish Tribe and Kitsap County, and fulfills the conditions of a Washington State statute that, upon request, requires county governments to enter into agreements with tribes when they share jurisdiction on an Indian reservation (RCW 10.92). The KCSO and SPD have worked together to provide law enforcement services on the Port Madison reservation for many years. However, depending on the type of land ownership and the Indian status of individuals, the rules for jurisdiction changed for each agency.

KCSO Lt. Jeffrey Menge pointed out that prior to the MOU a tribal officer had (and still has) the right to detain any person suspected of a crime and could investigate any crime on the reservation but they could not make any formal arrests or transports under state law. This will now change. An example of this new collaboration can be illustrated with a common DUI Investigation. In the past, a tribal officer had the ability to stop and detain a person suspected of DUI on the reservation but once they determined the suspect was “non-Indian”, the officer was required to stop and wait for a KCSO Deputy or State Trooper to respond and finish the investigation. Under the MOU, the Suquamish officer can now complete the entire investigation under state authority, including arrest and transport to the jail, thus eliminating the need to tie up other officers and duplicate efforts.

The Suquamish Police Department includes a Marine Division, that also coordinates with Kitsap County Sheriff Deputies.

“It doesn’t take two cops to do the work of one cop. Tribal officers and citizens have been stuck on the side of the road awaiting the arrival of a Deputy, who in many cases was pulled away from a more serious investigation to come handle a minor offense. It gets worse; two officers now have to write reports, receive subpoenas and will have to go to court at substantial cost to two different governments. These are low level cases; traffic violations and misdemeanor property crimes. We want our deputies out there catching burglars and heroin dealers, not driving 20 minutes to write a suspended driver a citation we could have issued in 90 seconds,” said Suquamish Police Chief Mike Lasnier.

Sheriff Gary Simpson credits a good working relationship between Kitsap County and the Suquamish Tribe for making the MOU a reality. “Our already collaborative and cooperative working relationship made this process as easy as it could have been, given its complexity.” Simpson said, “In many ways, this agreement memorializes an already fantastic working relationship.”
Sheriff Simpson added that the end result of the complex process is “a more effective and efficient public safety response for all citizens on the Port Madison Reservation and surrounding communities.”

Kitsap County Sherriff will be hosting an open house for those who want to know more at 5:30 p.m. on June 22, 2017 at the Suquamish United Church of Christ, 18732 Division Ave. NE, Suquamish, WA 98392.  For more information on the interlocal agreement, check out our Suquamish Police Frequently Asked Questions Page or download a printable brochure by clicking here.

Suquamish Police attending the Shop with a Cop event in Poulsbo, WA.

Did you know that Suquamish Police Officers get over 400%  more training each year than the State of Washington requires? Or, that we have the toughest ongoing fitness requirements for Patrol Officers in the United States?

Today, training is incredibly relevant to Law Enforcement.  The most important areas of training are topics which are called “High Risk/ Low Frequency” events. Those are things that don’t happen often, but that are dangerous or life-and-death when they do occur, such as armed robberies and performing CPR. If we do something every day, like traffic stops, we get pretty good at them. If we only do something once every 2 or 3 years, then we don’t get much practice, so we need to train to maintain the skill.

Many tasks performed by police officers have a “physical skill” element. If we think of our children’s sports teams, we see the best model for developing physical skills; regular practice. Imagine If you sent your child to participate in a sport, and the coach said “OK, we’re going to have one practice next Friday for 8 hours, and then we won’t practice again for 5 months, when we will play for the championship!” All of our eyebrows would go up; we know that our team wouldn’t perform well if they hadn’t worked together as a team for 5 months, or developed our basic skills and abilities. Part of practicing is learning to deal with the time-pressure and split second decision making in practice, so we make good decisions during the game. Police work is no different.

What kind of basic training do police officers receive? Well, first they are screened. All officers who work for the Suquamish Police Department meet the same standards as any other officer in Washington State. They have all passed a Physical Fitness Test, a polygraph examination, a psychological examination by a psychiatrist, a criminal records check, a detailed background investigation, drug testing, a written test and multiple selection boards; one with police officers from Suquamish and neighboring communities, and a second with Council members, elders, youth and community representatives.

Then, those who qualify are sent to a basic academy. In Suquamish, we use both State and Federal Academies depending on where there are vacancies. The Federal Academy is about 660 hours long, and the State Academy is 720. If we send an officer to the Federal Academy at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC), they are also sent to a State Equivalency Academy for an additional 80 hours, receiving a total of 800 Academic training hours.

After completing the Academy, they return to participate in Field Training with a Field Training Officer (FTO). This program is an additional 4 months working under the supervision of a senior officer, learning the community, geography, and specific laws, policies, report writing systems and of the things that are specific to Suquamish.  The FTO completes a daily scoring sheet on the officer, and they immediately correct any mistakes. This training would also include spending time with Detectives, Fisheries Officers, at CENCOM/ 911 and with neighboring agencies. By the time the officer is ready to work alone without supervision, they have been training for the better part of a year.

After completing their basic training, officers must receive continuous in-service training to maintain their skills. The Standard required by the State of Washington is 24 hours of “In-Service” training per year, to maintain police certification.  Testing and Qualification courses do NOT count towards this training time; testing is separate.  One of the advantages of being a Sovereign Government is that the Tribe has the ability to set its own standards.  The Suquamish Tribe exercises its Sovereignty by requiring it’s police to meet a higher standard than the State of Washington. We require each officer to meet a minimum of 40 hours of training per year, rather than the 24 required by the State. That is our minimum, but we never strive to meet the minimum.  In 2016, our average training hours per officer was 108.2 hours. This is 400% more than the State of Washington requires, and 250% above our own higher standard.  Some in-service training topics include handcuffing, legal updates (Federal, State and Tribal), emergency vehicle operation, communication skills, policies & procedures, investigations, patrol procedures, DUI and drug impaired drivers, domestic violence updates, ethics, crisis intervention & mental health, narcotics investigations and many others.

In 2016, we also hosted 2 different 40-hour conferences for all of the Law Enforcement agencies in our region.  One was on “Crisis Intervention Training”, which gives police officers up to date detailed information on the best ways to interact with people who are suffering from mental health challenges.  The other was “Transformative Use of Force Practices for Supervisors and Trainers”, which focused on the most current best practices in the area of police use of force.  It was taught by folks who are involved in the development and restructuring of the Seattle Police use of force training, to ensure it meets the constitutional demands and civil rights standards of the modern era.

Every Trimester, the officers are required to pass a fitness test to ensure they are maintaining a condition of readiness to respond to emergencies. The test may be the State standard of a 300 meter sprint, 1.5 mile run and sit-up and push-ups, but we also vary the tests to keep them interesting, and ensure that our officers don’t become injured by over-training in the same events all of the time. Much of our fitness training is geared towards maintaining mobility, and “injury-proofing” our officers.  We also develop practical skills like pushing, carrying and dragging heavy objects, so that we can pull folks out of burning cars or houses (which we’ve done).  Fit officers handle stress better, and make better decisions under pressure. No other agency in the State of Washington conducts mandatory fitness testing each Trimester. Most departments do nothing, and a few test once a year, but passing the test is usually not required. Some give financial incentives to officers who stay fit; we feel it’s already a basic part of the job. Our position is that you pay for police officers who are able to respond and assist you in an emergency, and you deserve to have officers who are trained and prepared to do so. The officers are given on-duty time to maintain their fitness levels.

If you have any questions regarding law enforcement training, please feel free to contact me!