AG: Giving tribes arrest power is constitutional

BOISE, Idaho (AP) – Idaho’s attorney general says a bill to give Indian tribes authority to arrest non-tribal members on reservations without a county sheriff’s consent would be constitutional.

The Coeur d’Alene Tribe has proposed the bill amid a dispute with Benewah County Sheriff Bob Kirts.

The tribe says Kirts won’t respond to tribal calls for help and refuses to reinstate a cross-deputization pact that unraveled in 2007.

Benewah County and some of its lawmakers have argued giving arrest authority to tribes would violate the constitutional rights of non-tribal members.

But the review by Attorney General Lawrence Wasden’s staff concluded such a law wouldn’t displace a sheriff’s authority, merely expand how tribal law enforcement could secure “peace officer status.”

Marc Stewart, a Coeur d’Alene Tribe spokesman, said Monday he expects a hearing next week.