Osage County Sheriff Eddie Virden says the fact that he pulled cards commissioning Osage Nation police officers as his deputies will have no substantial impact on how tribal officers work in Osage County, but Osage Nation Assistant Attorney General Jeff Jones begs to differ.

Jones said the move sends the Osage Nation Police Department back to where its 18 officers can only enforce laws on land owned by Indians or in “Indian Country” – land held in trust for Indians by the federal government, including the Osage Casinos. 

Already, Jones said, he has instructed the ONPD’s six-member tactical team, which assists the sheriff’s office about twice a week, to cease any activities that are not on Indian land. 

“We can’t do that,” Jones said. “We can’t do that without a commission card. Without a commission card, our guys are just private citizens if they’re on state land.”

Osage Nation police officers were cross-deputized by the Osage County Sheriff’s Office during the tenure of Sheriff Ty Koch about 10 years ago. The commission agreement prompted some immediate balking by some members of the community, notably when rancher Chuck Drummond challenged the authority of then-ONPD officer Tug Broughton, who stopped Drummond for driving 100 mph in a 65 mph zone. The charge stuck, and Broughton went on to issue about 200 more traffic citations in the next four years, according to court records. 

A cursory check of court records shows that Osage Nation officers make numerous traffic stops that they are authorized to perform through cross-deputization with the Sheriff’s Office. ONPD’s Patrick Luey, for instance, has issued more than 200 traffic citations since early 2012.

Virden said that a 2013 state law has rendered the cross-deputization agreement unnecessary. 

He acknowledged pulling the commission will affect ONPD’s ability to enforce traffic laws on state land, but that the larger good will come from the county not being liable for acts the tribal police perform. 

“The way it was explained to me, the tribe as a sovereign nation cannot be sued, so if anything happens, the defense lawyers go after the counties” that issued the commission cards, Virden said.  

“In 2013, the state passed a law that would do away with the need for commission laws and lessen the liability for the county … so it was not needed from what I was told. 

“Before ’13 they had to have those [commission cards] but the state passed a law that they could do everything that the commission was good for.” 

Virden said that the issue came up at the Sheriff’s Academy, where instructors advised doing away with the commission cards. 

Jones said that the 2013 law does no such thing, but applies instead to state police officers. Jones also said that the Osage Nation carries liability insurance on its officers in case they are sued. While it is true that the Osage Nation is a sovereign, the legal workaround for those who want to sue is simple: They sue the officers individually, and the Nation pays to defend those officers who are sued. It has happened recently, when Russell Goddard, an Avant resident, was arrested the day he was released from prison and got in a scuffle with Osage deputies, Avant police and tribal officers who had been called in for backup. Goddard’s skull was fractured during the melee – and three officers were injured – but the case ultimately was withdrawn and dismissed. 

The 2013 law expands the powers of state police officers, allowing them to cross jurisdictional lines in response to a threat to human life or property, when asked by another agency or officer, or when transporting prisoners. City police officers are granted the same powers only if their city has adopted policies and procedures allowing it. The last two entries of the law concern tribal officers, and Jones said they do not grant similar authority to tribal officers. 

The only passages that apply to tribal officers read as follows: 

“D. A Bureau of Indian Affairs law enforcement officer or a tribal law enforcement officer of a federally recognized Indian tribe who has been commissioned by the Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs and has been certified by the Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training shall have state police powers to enforce state laws on fee land purchased by a federally recognized American Indian tribe or in Indian country, as defined in Section 1151 of Title 18 of the United States Code.

“E. Nothing in this act shall limit or prohibit jurisdiction given to tribal officers pursuant to a cross-deputization agreement between a state or local governmental agency or another state or federal law.”

Virden said he met last week with Osage Nation Police Chief Nick Williams, Jones, District Attorney Rex Duncan and other officers to inform them of his decision. “I asked if there was any reason why we need to keep this commission card and to make me aware of it,” Virden said.

“Nobody had any reasons to continue the commission card.”

Besides traffic enforcement, Virden said that the lack of commission card would have “no effect on the way we work together.”

Jones, who also serves as a deputy U.S. Attorney, said that Assistant U.S. Attorney Shannon Cozzoni was astounded that the cross-deputization agreement had been yanked, Jones said. 

“She said, ‘You need to get it back. That’s crazy. It doesn’t create liability.’”

And Jones said that the change could harm the public by the fact that fewer officers will be out on the road. 

“If one of our guys sees a potential drunk driver, we don’t have jurisdiction and we cannot even make a stop,” Jones said. 

“We can’t write a ticket. We can’t stop them. We can’t do anything.”