Time: Thu Jun 19 09:09:07 1997
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Date: Thu, 19 Jun 1997 08:59:48 -0700
To: (Recipient list suppressed)
From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar]
Subject: SLS: Utah sheriffs take on feds. (fwd)
<snip>
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>Utah Sheriffs Lose a Round To Federal Cops
>>
>> BY BRENT ISRAELSEN
>> THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
>>
>> Federal land-management agencies can continue to arrest
>>people on state charges -- at
>> least for two more months.
>> On Tuesday, to the chagrin of rural Utah sheriffs, the
>>state Council on Peace Officer
>> Standards and Training (POST) did not rescind state police
>>power it grants to
>> law-enforcement officers of the U.S. Forest Service and the
>>Bureau of Land Management.
>> Instead, the 17-member council -- composed of sheriffs,
>>police chiefs and political figures
>> from around the state -- voted to send the issue to a
>>committee and to newly appointed
>> POST director Sid Groll for further study.
>> Groll said he will bring a recommendation to the
>>council for its next meeting in August.
>> Led by Millard County Sheriff Ed Phillips, rural
>>sheriffs urged the council Tuesday to take
>> away federal officers' state police powers.
>> Relying largely on anecdotal testimony, the sheriffs
>>cited several reasons for wanting to
>> relieve the feds of state authority:
>> -- The federal police overstep their bounds by pro-
>>actively enforcing state criminal law.
>> -- They are poorly trained in state law.
>> -- They are not accountable.
>> But the underlying rationale appears to be a
>>fundamental question of states' rights vis-a-vis
>> the federal government.
>> According to Phillips' view of the Constitution, Uncle
>>Sam is responsible for protecting
>> the nation from foreign invasion, while local sheriffs are
>>charged with keeping people within
>> the borders from hurting each other.
>> ``The citizens elected 29 sheriffs in this state,''
>>Phillips said. ``Utah citizens did not elect
>> [Interior Secretary] Bruce Babbitt or [Acting BLM Director]
>>Sylvia Baca to run law
>> enforcement here in Utah.''
>> With about 30 officers between them, the BLM and Forest
>>Service enforce federal laws
>> and regulations on nearly 30 million acres -- or 56 percent
>>-- of land in Utah.
>> Often finding themselves on the defensive, BLM and
>>Forest Service law-enforcement
>> representatives told the POST Council they do not have the
>>interest or staff to conduct
>> criminal investigations. They want state police authority
>>only to protect them from civil
>> liability in emergency situations and to help local police
>>keep the peace on public lands.
>> ``We're not here [in Utah] as a takeover, conspiracy
>>force,'' said Mac Thomson, who
>> heads law enforcement for the Forest Service in Utah.
>> Thomson and Keith Aller, special agent in charge of BLM
>>law enforcement in Utah, said
>> if the rural sheriffs have trouble with a particular
>>federal officer, they should air their
>> grievances with BLM superiors.
>> But some rural sheriffs said airing grievances often is
>>difficult because of the decentralized
>> or inaccessible chain-of-command in the federal land-
>>management agencies.
>> Though most of Tuesday's discussion centered on state
>>authority granted to the BLM and
>> Forest Service, POST Councilman Lee Allen, a Box Elder
>>County commissioner, said
>> National Park Service rangers often are heavy-handed in
>>their enforcement.
>> Directing his remarks to the feds in attendance, Allen
>>said, ``Just tell your folks, `For
>> heck's sake, back off and think a little bit and use common
>>sense.' ''
>> In an interview afterward, Groll said he favors a
>>change in the Utah statute that delineates
>> how federal agencies are granted state police authority.
>>Groll, a former Cache County
>> sheriff, said he would like to see that decision rest with
>>each county sheriff.
>
>>Posted for personal non-profit research and edcuational purposes.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
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========================================================================
Paul Andrew Mitchell : Counselor at Law, federal witness
B.A., Political Science, UCLA; M.S., Public Administration, U.C. Irvine
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