ACIP seeks revised aid agreement
Sheriff's department advised not to respond to calls on tribal lands

By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — The Arizona Counties Insurance Pool not only wants to rescind a Memorandum of Agreement between Apache County and the Navajo Nation, it wants to assist the county in drafting and negotiating a new, more acceptable agreement.

The MOA pertaining to mutual aid between the two entities has been in effect for several years following a signing ceremony which included Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr., Public Safety Executive Director Samson Cowboy, then-Chief of Police Dorothy Fulton, and Apache County Board of Supervisors Chairman Tom White, who is also a member of the Navajo Nation Council.

Now, it appears the insurance pool wants out of the agreement. In a Jan. 26 letter to White from the Arizona Counties Insurance Pool, ACIP said, "Recently ACIP has become concerned about the high risks that arise when county law enforcement personnel engage in activities on Native American lands.

"These risks arise, among other reasons, because of the sovereignty of Native American nations, and because of the inability of the counties to effectively engage in risk management activities on Native American lands."

The ACIP Board had directed its staff to look into the extent to which the counties perform law enforcement activities on Native American lands, and the extent to which the counties are protected under the mutual-aid agreements.

ACIP specifically named the Apache County Sheriff's Department in its letter to White, stating that staff discussed in its Jan. 20 meeting that the department performs a number of activities in the Navajo Nation, including the New Mexico portion of the Nation, "that go well beyond emergency response."

"Staff also said that it was not certain whether a mutual aid agreement had been executed between the Navajo Nation and the County ..."

The ACIP Board included two resolutions with its letter to White, one requesting that Apache County "rescind its current mutual aid agreement with the Nation (assuming one exists) and in the event that the mutual aid agreement was not executed, to rescind its approval." The board then offered to assist the county in drafting and negotiating a new agreement.

"The resolution requests that pending the negotiation of an acceptable agreement, the Sheriff's Department not engage in activities within the boundaries of the Navajo Nation," said Kenneth Sundloft Jr., ACIP counsel.

County to negotiate
Apache County Manager Delwin Wengert said Tuesday, "It's our intent to provide services to the Navajo Nation. That's always been our intent; it's still our intent. We will immediately begin negotiations with the Navajo Nation to renew the agreement."

ACIP said it "will help us to draft a new agreement with the Navajo Nation that will fit their needs, that they can approve," Wengert said. "And they will insist that the sheriff work within the scope of the agreement."

Apache County Sheriff Brian Hounshell said Wednesday evening that Wengert failed to mention in his interview Tuesday with the Independent, "that he (Wengert) is a member of the board of ACIP."

"He stated that 'someone' was giving ACIP information and that ACIP learned of these activities from somewhere else. All actions taken by ACIP would have been known to Wengert due to his position on the board," the sheriff said.

"I still have not been contacted by the County Manager or ACIP about this matter. Yet Mr. Wengert has plenty of time to talk to the press about it. Wengert states that ACIP conducted an investigation into this. The only investigation I am aware of is one that was characterized to my deputies and myself as a 'quarterly overtime review'," Hounshell said.

"My deputies were told that this investigation was confidential and covered by 'attorney-client privilege'."

Navajo Nation responds
Navajo Public Safety's Samson Cowboy said Wednesday he was surprised by the turn of events.

"We worked so hard to get this MOA in place. It benefited Apache County and the Navajo Nation," he said.

"The way the system works is if they come upon a situation, then they handle it. That's a given. If we ask for their assistance, that's what the MOA is mainly for requesting. He's a first-responder organization to begin with. What is he going to do if there's an accident or a person complaining? Is he just going to drive away, or just be parked there?"

Cowboy cited the New Mexico portion of the reservation as an example of the difference a mutual-aid agreement can make.

"We're dealing with a jurisdiction issue. McKinley County has to wait until Navajo Police arrive, and Crownpoint District is a big, big area. So it's a losing effort when we don't have a cross-commissioning. Apache County is a similar situation. It's a big, big, big area," he said.

Wengert said, "I think what they're (ACIP) saying is they don't object to Apache County providing law enforcement on the Navajo Nation as long as the agreement is tighter and the sheriff abides by the agreement.

"But under the current agreement, they feel like there's some sovereignty issues. They're concerned about the sovereignty. They want to address that in the new agreement and they want to tighten up the scope, is my understanding."

ACIP looked at and signed off on the current MOA. During an Aug. 26, 2003, Board of Supervisors special meeting in St. Johns, Wengert stated that he had spoken with ACIP Executive Director Bill Hardy regarding the MOA, and that Hardy said he had not seen "a more well-written agreement than this one and was very confident that ACIP could stand behind it."

Now, 28 months later, Hounshell said, "under suspicious timing, these people are saying that they cannot support this agreement.

"Nothing has changed, no adverse actions have occurred, and they are the only ones who have complained. It amazes me that our county government can refuse to recognize the needs of over half of their constituents," Hounshell said.

County will provide
Wengert said the main thing he and other county officials want people to understand "is we want to provide services to the Navajo Nation. We do it in roads. We've always taken the stance that it's all one county, and we want to provide services.

"If the other counties feel like we're doing something that puts them at risk, we can't help that. And we'll do all we can to work with the Navajo Nation to come up with an agreement that satisfies ACIP so we can provide law enforcement services again."

Hounshell countered. "If the citizens of Apache County think that they will renegotiate the agreement, you must keep a couple things in mind: No. 1, it will be for lesser service. No. 2, it'll never happen."

The sheriff said he checked with the Arizona POST Commission, the organization that certifies all peace officers in the state. "They advised that if I, as sheriff, order my deputies not to patrol portions of the county I was elected to serve, my certification as a police officer would be in jeopardy," he said.

"The legal adviser of AZPOST expressed disbelief that the Board of Supervisors would abandon the safety and welfare of half of their county on the recommendation of an insurance agent," Hounshell said.

"I will never abandon the citizens of this county, the responsibilities of my elected office, nor will I allow any outsider with no legal authority to dictate to me where or when I may exercise the constitutional duties of my office," he said.

"At a time when communities all over this country are demanding more law enforcement services, I am accused of providing too much. I am told that this is a gross liability for our insurance agent."

During Hounshell's 20 years in working with the sheriff's office, he said, "We have not had an adverse action related to our services on the Navajo Nation. It is truly sad that our county government will allow its conduct to be dictated by an un-elected, unknowledgeable and uncaring insurance pool whose only concern in the bottom line," he said.

"The insurance pool should work for the county, not against them," he said.

Hounshell plans to attend the Supervisors' meeting at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday to "fight for my right to provide law enforcement services to my fellow citizens who reside in northern Apache County. "I will not deny services to any resident of this county regardless of who thinks it is a gross liability. Public safety is far more important than politics," he said.