Hoopa Valley Tribal Police officers may lose their policing power at the end of August, according to a letter from Humboldt County Sheriff Mike Downey dated Thursday, April 30.

The letter, which was addressed to the Hoopa Valley Tribal Council, signals the end of the longstanding cross-deputization arrangement between the Sheriff’s Office and tribal police. Barring the outcome of negotiations between the two parties, the arrangement could be dissolved within 90 days.

Downey’s letter comes after months, arguably years, of Tribal Council discussions about the reorganizing of the department, which has been consistently underfunded and increasingly understaffed. In March, the tribal police chief – who had been under fire from a citizen’s group – abruptly resigned. Meanwhile, the tribal police force has shrunk from 12 officers two years ago to three presently. One of the three remaining officers is on light duty because of a medical issue. With two able-bodied officers, the department’s ability to effectively respond to calls is compromised.

News of the upcoming change to the Valley’s police services have many residents –- including, especially, former victims of crime –- very nervous. They fear that if tribal police do not have the ability to respond to violent crime, policing and other emergency services will get much worse.

In March, Judy Surber’s son was shot in the head during an incident that ended with one man dead and another wounded. After nearly a month of hospitalization, her son is home and recovering.

“The thought of having less law enforcement services or longer response times is scary,” Surber said. “As a family who has needed police assistance in the last few months, and had to wait one-to-two hours for any response, this is unacceptable and can have detrimental results. In a critical situation five minutes can feel like five hours. I’m worried about the safety of our community at this point.”

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The Tribal Police Department was formed in the 1980s to enforce tribal laws only. In 1995, the tribe and the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office entered an agreement that cross-deputized qualified officers with the Sheriff’s Office, enabling them to enforce state laws on tribal land. They’ve operated under some form of that agreement, which has been periodically renegotiated, for the past 20 years.

But the deal with the Sheriff’s Office couldn’t solve all the Valley’s problems, either political or logistical. In March, Bob Kane, the department’s chief for nearly a decade, abruptly resigned following three months of pressure from Richard Estrada’s mother, Leanne, who believes that police inaction contributed to her son’s death.

Richard Estrada was shot and killed by a California Highway Patrol Officer in December of 2014. His mother Leanne believes better communication between agencies and an adequate response from tribal police could have changed the outcome of the incident and saved her son’s life.

Leanne Estrada called tribal police the night before, seeking help for her son. There was no response. As she prepared to take her son to seek medical attention at Sempervirens in Eureka for a mental health issue, he stole her car. Richie suffered from bi-polar disorder, but was described as a “good kid” maintaining good grades, friendships and a positive lifestyle. He attended counseling the day before the incident, swept his grandmother’s house, installed a window shade, and chopped firewood for her. He reportedly experimented with psychedelic mushrooms on Friday, Dec. 12, five days prior to the incident, which interfered with the management of his mental health disorder.

After he stole his mother’s car, his twin sister called 911 and told the dispatcher that her brother had stolen the family car, may have used psilocybin mushrooms, was manic and had not slept.

The dispatcher said a CHP officer was en route from Willow Creek, but the officer never arrived.

“No one from the county ever responded to the repeated 911 calls,” Leanne Estrada said. “This situation began on a tribal reservation and tribal police never responded … The responding CHP officer was not informed of the imminent danger, and a description of my son was never relayed. County and tribal dispatches did not cooperate with each other and the information that could have saved lives was not shared.”

In the meantime, Richard Estrada wrecked his mother’s car in Willow Creek on Highway 299. When a CHP officer arrived, an uncharacteristic and violent confrontation ended with Estrada dead.

Leanne Estrada, accompanied by others who have lost loved ones due to what they believe to be police negligence, attended every Hoopa tribal council meeting after her son’s death to seek answers about police actions.

She asked for detailed protocols about the Hoopa Valley Tribe’s emergency response system and an “after-action review” of the 911 call that she made for assistance on December 12, 2014, the night before her son was killed.

Others in the meeting also asked for the police protocol used when officers decide how to respond to a call for service.

None was provided, so Leanne and her ad hoc coalition kept going back.

“I want answers,” she said. “I don’t want this to happen to anybody else. It has to stop.”

At the last meeting Leanne Estrada attended, in March, tribal council members asked Kane to attend. He didn’t show up, but arrived at the police station the following morning to inform his staff that he was resigning effective immediately.

His resignation prompted immediate discussions between the Tribal Council and Sheriff Downey about how to maintain public safety services in Hoopa, an area plagued by drug and alcohol addiction and accompanied by high rates of serious crime. In 2013, the last year for which complete statistics are available, Hoopa Valley Tribal Police recorded 136 incidents of violent crime. That was about two-thirds the number recorded by the Eureka Police Department, which serves roughly 10 times as many people.

On April 20, the Tribe struck a plan with the Sheriff to conduct a feasibility study to re-evaluate Humboldt County’s role in law enforcement in Hoopa. The plan was for the Tribe to pay the Sheriff’s Office $25,000 to conduct the 30-day study.

Because of politics, though, the study never happened and a final agreement was not reached. The Hoopa Valley Tribe was gearing up for their April 28 primary election, which included three candidates for tribal chair. Two of the candidates were heavily opposed to the county reassuming police control over Hoopa. The other, the incumbent, Danielle Vigil-Masten, has declined to comment on the issue by not responding to press inquiries or publicly stating her position. (Vigil-Masten came in third in the primary, meaning she will not move on to the general election.)

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One of the remaining candidates, Ryan Jackson, is already a member of the tribal council. He held two community meetings on policing issues, where he openly discussed his opposition to the draft agreement with Humboldt County, calling it a step backward from tribal sovereignty that they had worked hard to achieve.

“When Downey was elected Sheriff and we had to renew the MOU with the county. He wanted us to waive sovereign immunity and he wasn’t going to allow for tort coverage — these were conditions of cross-deputization. Because we took issue with his requirements it took four months to make a final cross deputization agreement,” Jackson said. “As soon as it was signed, they left and they’ve been gone every since. It is the Sheriff’s responsibility to enforce state law out here. If we’re down to 3-4 officers they can’t just leave us out here hanging. They can’t just shitcan our police force either or take our vehicles, building, equipment and all of that.”

Jackson acknowledges that there are problems with the tribal police department, but doesn’t believe the solution should include a total county takeover. He said the issues became political at the tribal council table, eroding its ability to solve the problems quickly.

“If you have problems with the chief of police, take care of those problems,” he said. “Don’t undermine the entire outfit by preventing progress within the department by turning down every step they attempt to make in a positive direction.”

“Once the new council was seated, it became more of a personal issue with the police rather than working together to find ways to improve the program,” Jackson said.

Lt. Kevin Miller with the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office is in command of the county’s north area, which includes Hoopa, Willow Creek and Orleans inland, and McKinleyville, Trinidad and Orick on the coast.

“This had nothing to do with the election at all,” Miller said. “The letter was already being drafted before the election results came out. The timing was a total coincidence.”

Since Kane’s resignation, Miller said, there has been an increase in services to the Hoopa Valley and some changes to officer scheduling as well as to the dispatching procedure.

“All calls for service are being forwarded to our dispatch,” Miller said. “If Hoopa Tribal receives a call, it is forwarded to us regardless of which agency responds to the call.”

As for service, he said they have increased their coverage of the area with two to three officers covering the Willow Creek, Hoopa and Orleans area. How? They’re paying their officers overtime, which hadn’t been an option in the past.

Now, with Measure Z funding on its way, the office is looking to hire six to seven more deputies this year and even more next year.

Lieutenant Ed Guyer with the Hoopa Valley Tribal Police said it’s difficult to get officers to come to Hoopa without offering competitive pay.

“The biggest challenge to having an effective police force is staffing,” Guyer said. “We don’t have adequate staff and there are safety issues with officers working alone.”

Tribal police is currently advertising for police officer trainees as a means to help rebuild their force.

“We’re pushing to recruit and train community members because they are vested here and want to stay in their community,” he said. “And now, with the status of the department, people are even more reluctant to work here.”

Full letter from Sheriff Mike Downey to the Hoopa Valley Tribal Council below:

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Allie Hostler is editor of the Two Rivers Tribune.