Local law enforcement officials plan to attend a public meeting in Cortez this week aimed to solicit testimony from Navajos regarding police abuse in border towns.
Representing law enforcement, business, social services and educational interests, the five-member Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission will hold a the hearing at City Hall starting at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 4. Cortez Police Chief Roy Lane and Montezuma County Sheriff Steve Nowlin said they’d attend.
Nowlin said he anticipates the hearing will serve as a springboard to open lines of communication between his agency and the Navajo Nation.
“I hope this hearing will become the beginning of a strong partnership that can be developed, now and in the future,” he said.
Commissioners have held a series of similar hearings across the Navajo Nation, receiving numerous complaints that range from police brutality to inmate deaths. One jail fatality under investigation occurred at the Montezuma County Detention Center in 2013.
In that case, Harrison M. Begay, 38, of Tonalea, Ariz., died inside a holding cell on Sunday, Oct. 27, 2013. Acting on behalf of family members, Albuquerque attorney Russell Sacks filed a wrongful-death notice on April 23, 2014, requesting $5 million in damages.
In his demand to former Montezuma County Sheriff Dennis Spruell, Sacks noted that jailors found Begay, arrested on a trespass charge, with “blood in his nostrils and around his nose” after being discharged from Southwest Memorial Hospital hours before. Spruell, multiple deputies and employees at Southwest Memorial Hospital were all named as potential defendants in the seven-page wrongful death action.
In addition to the unexplained death in Cortez, Navajo human rights officials report two similar jail deaths have occurred in Flagstaff. Commissioners have also received complaints that allege authorities beat Navajos and left them in the hills outside of Cuba, N.M. And in Gallup, officials attribute nearly a dozen exposure deaths to drunken residents who sleep outside to avoid the city’s mandatory 72-hour hold policy.
“Some of the stories we’ve heard are abhorrent,” Commissioner Steve Darden said at a recent hearing in Flagstaff.
Commissioner Frank Bradley, who served 24 years as an indigenous law enforcement officer, attributed police shortcomings to inadequate oversight.
“There’s no supervision on the streets,” he said. “Policy isn’t being followed, and no one is watching.”
Bradley added that most civil rights violations could be avoided if officers were better trained in cultural awareness and simple interpersonal skills.
“As an officer, you have to be able to talk and be respectful,” said the retired Navajo police sergeant. “Treat others how you would want to be treated. Treat them as fellow human beings.”
Nowlin agreed, stating, “Communication and respect is the key to resolving problems.”
