Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

August 12, 2009

Federal Appeals case reveals lawlessness of Tohono O'odham police

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

SELLS, Arizona -- Tohono O'odham tribal police have routinely followed, harassed, intimidated, detained and handcuffed without cause, O'odham human rights activists and news reporters documenting the abuses. While working closely with Homeland Security, and controlled by federal dollars, the Tohono O'odham tribal government is a leading offender of human rights, both of its own people and dying migrants.
Recently, O'odham detention officers left Native American inmates locked in a suffocating van in the desert, where death often results during the summer temperatures of between 100 and 117 degrees.
The US Border Patrol and Tohono O'odham tribal police work hand in hand to continue abusing O'odham and migrants.
A Federal Appeals case reveals how out of control Tohono O'odham tribal police are:
http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/28/2864.asp
" ... When stopped, Bressi insisted that the roadblock was unconstitutional and declined to produce his papers when a tribal policeman demanded it. Instead, Bressi asked the officer if he had any probable cause to believe he was in violation of any state law. That infuriated the officer who, after a lengthy exchange, pulled Bressi out of his vehicle, handcuffed him and arrested him for failure to obey a police officer and failure to produce proof of identity ..."

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