It is a great pleasure to be here and l am highly honored to address this first graduating class of reservation Police officers trained at Brigham City, which represents the beginning of a new era and a new chapter in Indian community self-awareness.
I bring greetings from Secretary of the Interior Morton and the regrets of the Assistant to the Secretary for Indian Affairs Marvin Franklin who could not accept your invitation because of pressing matters in Washington.
This graduation marks a milestone in the progress of Indian people towards self-determination.
As you begin your careers as professional law enforcement officers we hope you will take deep pride in the profession you have chosen. I use the word profession because it infers a career choice, rather than just a job. You, as graduate police officers, have a two-fold role. First, you are community servants. The role of the police is to keep people out of jail when possible but at the same time the officer must enforce the law fairly equitably.
Second, you are Indian police. You have been trained to deal with problems that do not ordinarily confront non-reservation law officers. Because all of you are Indians, you are deeply aware of the needs and problems facing the Indian communities. Because of this "inside knowledge," you are in a better position to offer alternatives.
You are special in other ways as well. You graduates were selected because you are capable of handling difficult situations. At the same time you are servants of the community, you are also important citizens in that community. Your role is to enforce the law in a straightforward way, without favoritism or arbitrary action. You were able to finish a rigorous training program. You are protectors of the people as well as enforcers of the law; one responsibility is just as important as the other.
Being a law enforcement officer is more than just going through a course of finalized instruction and then out to work an assigned beat. As with other professions, to be really top-notch, you must keep on top of what's happening in your career field. Part of being a professional is constant self education and, most important, self-awareness. This graduating class, and those that will follow, has been trained by specialists from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States. Marshall's Service, the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Tax Unit of the Treasury, and the Utah State Police.
However, the training does not with your graduation. Because of the need to professionalize Indian police- work, there is now under development a nationwide special Operations Service designed to tie together law enforcement groups on reservations into an efficient national body. Plans are underway to make this Special Operations Service an elite, well-trained mobile response unit. As a part of this sweeping program of mandatory training, these reservation officers will have behind them additional staff help, the best of equipment, and funds for further continuous training.
These graduates are living proof of the realization of the policy of self-determination for American Indians outlined by President Nixon in his special message to Congress in 1970. The eyes of Indian people everywhere are on you; we hope that you, as Indian police officers, will continue to earn the pride of the people and Government you have to serve.
And finally, it is my pleasure to present to the Bureau of Indian Affairs Police Academy an American flag flown over the United States Capitol in your honor. It was secured through the help of Congressman Manuel Lujan, Jr., of Albuquerque the ranking minority member of the Subcommittee of the House of Representatives, Interior and Insular Affairs Committee, who sends his heartiest congratulations and best wishes for a most worthy career.
