No. The Tribal Prosecutor acting in their official capacity does not represent private individuals; she/he represents the People of the Tribe as a whole in criminal cases and child welfare cases.
No. The Tribal Prosecutor acting in their official capacity does not represent private individuals; she/he represents the People of the Tribe as a whole in criminal cases and child welfare cases.
If the situation is an emergency you should call 911, if the situation is a not an emergency you should call Tribal Law Enforcement to report a crime.
If you case is a child welfare proceeding then it is possible to transfer the case to Tribal Court, if your case involves an adult criminal matter then currently there is no method of transferring your case to Tribal Court.
The placement of children is determined by the Tribal Social Services Department and Tribal Court according to the placement preferences set forth in the Tribe’s Child Protection Statute.
The Tribal Prosecutor does not oversee or manage the Tribal Social Services Program. The Tribal Prosecutor works with the Social Services program on each child welfare case, but does not have any authority on the assignment of social workers or day-to-day decisions on case service plans.
The Indian Child Welfare Act is a federal law which applies to state child protection proceedings involving Indian children. ICWA gives authority to tribes to intervene in child welfare proceedings where the child has been placed out of the home; a tribe may also request that the case be transferred to tribal court from state court. The Indian Child Welfare Act does not apply to child protection proceedings that arise in tribal courts.
The Tribal Prosecutor can intervene in child protection proceedings involving children who are tribal citizens or who are eligible to be tribal citizens which are initiated in state court; the Tribal Prosecutor also has the authority to request transfer of those cases from state court to Tribal Court.
The Indian Child Welfare Act does not apply to custody disputes between a child’s parents.
The Tribal Police and the Tribal Prosecutor have developed a policy regarding the release of police reports. The Tribal Police will only release police reports to the individual that filed the report and only after there has been some disposition in the case, i.e. charges were filed; the case was declined, etc. The reason for limiting the release of a police report until after such a decision is made is to protect the integrity of the investigation while an investigation is still ongoing.