The Iowa Senate passed a bill authorizing tribal governments to have peace officers. The bill is known as Senate File 343. It was approved on April 24, 2013, and signed by Gov. Terry E. Branstad.

Tim Albrecht, communications director of the office of the governor, stated: “SF 343 was passed unanimously in both chambers and authorizes the governing body of a tribal government to establish a force of reserve peace officers and to limit the size of the force.”

According to the bill: “The words reserve peace officer shall mean a person defined as such … who is not a full-time member of paid law enforcement agency. A person performing such services shall not be classified as a casual employee.”

“The primary purpose for the bill was to enable tribal governments with the flexibility to be able to meet the demand for increased peace officers,” Albrecht said.

Sidner Larson, current director of the American Indian Studies program, said he believes that having peace officers is a very necessary thing. Larson has a law degree from the University of Minnesota, and one of his areas is Federal Indian Law.

“Any community has to have those who can mediate some of the darker angels of human nature,” Larson said. “There is always going to be crime regardless of the culture or ethnic background, it is part of human nature.”

Larson said tribal communities have a long history of establishing their own law enforcement. They have been maintaining their own law and order with the cooperation of state and federal law enforcement officers.

“One of the recent phenomenon is what is known as the tribal law and order act of 2010,” said Larson. This act is aimed to strengthen tribal law enforcement. With the decline of the economy, crime has been going up. It is difficult enough with various tribal communities since they are rife with poverty.

“Where there is any concentration of human population you simply have to have the means to mediate the conflicts,” Larson said

“Iowa has a good working relationship with tribal people,” Larson said. He believes that having reserve peace officers will benefit tribal communities. Working together in collaboration with the cooperation of the state has helped tribal communities for a very long time.