Who will police the new Fire Rock Casino?

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Bill Donovan
Staff writer

GALLUP — The night before the new Navajo casino just outside the city’s limits was to open, members of the McKinley County Commission spent almost an hour discussing its possible effects on this area.

Not the positive effects such as new jobs or the possibility of drawing in more tourists, but the ones where Navajo communities around the county will need to have more police protection because of the negative effects that the casino will cause.

And the impetus for all this: a decision by the Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprise to give the county more than $100,000 to provide the casino with law enforcement services the county is obligated to provide them for free.

It all began a couple of months ago when officials for the Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprise came to the county, wanting an agreement that would have county sheriff’s deputies respond if the need arises at the casino in Churchrock. The proposal at that time would have provided the county with enough funds to hire two more deputies and purchase a police car — some $150,000.

But then officials in the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety stepped forward and said that the tribal police would be the primary responder when the county sheriff’s department would be backup. As a result, the enterprise’s offer changed, with an offer to only provide funds for one officer and one police vehicle.

When the new agreement came before the commission, not everyone was happy.

Commissioner Ernest Becenti Jr. made it plain he didn’t like the enterprise cutting back on its proposal and suggested that the commission go back to the bargaining table and seek enough funds to pay for two deputies and two police cruisers.

But both County Sheriff Frank Gonzales and County Attorney Doug Decker pointed out that if there was no agreement, the sheriff’s department is obligated, under a joint memo of understanding with the Navajo Nation, to serve as backup for tribal police anywhere in the county, including on the tribal land that now houses the casino.

Shelly, however, persisted by pointing out that the officers were needed not only to provide a level of protection for the casino but also for the areas around the casino which could potentially see higher crime rates, higher substance abuse and higher domestic violence, all requiring more law enforcement protection.

And although the Navajo Nation agreed to be the first responder, none of the county officials expected that with its staffing problems, the Navajo tribal police department would be able to respond quickly — or if at all — to a request for assistance from casino personnel. Having the tribe be the first responder would result in the casino waiting 45 minutes or more at the minimum for a tribal police officer to get to the scene. A sheriff’s deputy could be there in 10 minutes. “In this way, the casino will benefit,” Shelly said.

After a lot of discussion, the commission agreed to allow negotiating between the county and the enterprise to continue with county representatives seeking the funding for the extra deputy and police cruiser.

But Gonzales and Becenti got into a minor tiff — which Commissioner Dave Dallago would later characterize as a “touchy-feely” moment — when Gonzales asked Becenti if he wanted the commission to reject the agreement entirely if he didn’t get both deputies and police cars, which would mean that the sheriff’s department wouldn’t get anything and would still have to provide the backup.

In the end, it was resolved with the county officials told basically to get whatever they could — but no less than the one deputy and the one police cruiser – and then come back to the commission at some later time and get the deal approved by the commission.

Wednesday
November 19, 2008
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