Forty American Indian police, including two Indian policewomen, will graduate in August from the Bureau of Indian Affairs Indian Police Academy, presently located in Brigham City, Utah, Marvin L. Franklin, and Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs, announced today.
The training has been a part of the Bureau of Indian Affairs law enforcement function for nearly 5 years. "This is an 11-week training program to which each police department on an Indian reservation -- tribal or Federal --has been invited to send trainees," Franklin pointed out. "The training involves basic police work coupled with a police science program that is designed to give Indian reservations efficient, enlightened law enforcement."
All cadets without a high school diploma will receive an equivalency certificate by the time they graduate.
Academic work involves the study of Indian law and treaties, jurisdiction of Indian police, cross-jurisdictional problems, and arrest procedures. Practical schooling involves firearms, fingerprinting, and physical education.
There are eight hours of classes five days a week and four hour sessions each Saturday. Those cadets who hope to qualify for a high school equivalency certificate take additional two hour classes three nights a week.
"Eighty percent of the work of the Indian police on a reservation is responding to human needs rather than apprehending criminals," the Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs, pointed out.
James J. Cooper, law and order specialist, is Director of the U.S. Indian Police Training and Research Center.
