Part
2: Making an Impact on the Reservation
Snow swirled in New Mexico’s high plains
as Special Agent Mac McCaskill slowed his vehicle at the bottom of a hill on
the Tohajiilee Reservation. He engaged the four-wheel drive before continuing
slowly up the steep, bumpy track on his way to deliver a subpoena in a violent
assault case.
McCaskill had driven an hour from
Albuquerque on this 20-degree morning—typical of the distances that often
separate agents from their cases in Indian Country—and now he was knocking on
the door of a small wooden structure with one boarded-up window. On the
hillside just beyond the dwelling sat a rusted trailer and an outhouse. A young
woman holding an infant opened the door and told McCaskill the man he was
looking for would be back later.
“On the reservation you can’t just call
someone because many people don’t have a phone,” McCaskill said, explaining the
challenges of investigating crimes in Indian Country. “Sometimes the best way
to get anything done is to knock on doors.”
In the process of knocking on doors and
talking to people, McCaskill and other agents working in Indian Country become
not just law enforcement officers but advocates for justice and sometimes even
role models. (See sidebar.)
A New Mexico native, McCaskill said his
eyes were “wide open” when he took an assignment in Indian Country. “Still,
it’s difficult to comprehend the conditions on the reservations and the kinds
of crime we see here,” he explained. “People are living in really difficult
circumstances.”
In Tohajiilee, a satellite reservation
that is part of the Navajo Nation, many homes lack electricity and running
water, and social ills such as alcoholism are rampant. These issues, along with
the fact that there are only a handful of tribal police officers assigned to
patrol a sprawling area of more than 120 square miles, contribute to a serious
crime problem.
“There are terrible crimes that happen
on the reservations that go virtually unnoticed by the world outside,” McCaskill
said. “If they happened anywhere else, in Denver or in Dallas, it would be
front-page news for a week.”
As a result, he said, “we are serving a
community that isn’t used to getting much service.” Perhaps it’s not surprising
then that women beaten by boyfriends or spouses, or children sexually assaulted
by family members may believe a call to authorities will do little to help
them.
McCaskill works hard to change that
perception. He patiently explained to the young mother the importance of
serving the subpoena—so that the witness will testify, which could help make
sure the violent offender stays in jail and no longer poses a threat to the
community.
“Our caseloads may be 75 percent sexual
assaults against children,” McCaskill said later. “People ask me if it’s
difficult emotionally to work these cases, and my answer is always, ‘How can
you not work them?’ These are cases where on a very fundamental level you are
able to make a difference in a victim’s life by taking an abuser out of the
family. When I help a victim and get to know the family,” he added, “I may be
one of the few positive influences that they’ve ever seen from outside the
reservation.”
Stopping that cycle of violence on the
reservation is “extremely rewarding,” McCaskill said. “We are helping people
here.”
Teachers
and Mentors
Paul Brusuelas, a tribal prosecutor for
the Mescalero Apache Tribe in southern New Mexico, remembers when he was
growing up on the reservation and very few young people had respect for law
enforcement.
Today, things are different. “FBI
agents, Assistant U.S. Attorneys, and investigators from the Bureau of Indian
Affairs actually go into the schools and talk to the kids,” he said. “They talk
to young adults and young parents and try to persuade them to go in the right
direction.”
“I would say 98 percent of our crime
here is fueled by alcohol,” Brusuelas said.
“The agents and officers give a lot of
education to the youth on alcohol, drugs, and gang activity—just a lot of
positive influence. The kids all know the officers by their names now. Going
down the road you’ll see the little kids waving their hands at the officers.”
“The FBI, the Bureau of Indian Affairs,
and Mescalero tribal officers and prosecutors work extremely well together,” he
added. “We all keep in contact on a daily basis, and we all communicate well.
Without the presence of the federal agencies here,” he said, “I think Mescalero
would be in a world of hurt.
Next:
Murder on the Zuni reservation.
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