Chief: Why am I here? Delegates don’t back up requests for police services with money

Posted by Arlyssa Becenti | May 3, 2018 | News |

WINDOW ROCK

Piñon Chapter President Bessie Allen sat next to her Council delegate, Dwight Witherspoon, as they discussed legislation directing the establishment of a Dzil Yijiin Police District during Monday’s Law and Order Committee meeting.

In October 2016, this exact legislation was tabled so that more information could be gathered. Over a year later it was recalled to the committee and approved by a vote of 2-0.

The entire Navajo Nation, not just Dzil Yijiin, could use more police presence, but with only 182 officers to cover the entire reservation, it’s hard to say which area should get more law enforcement. This is why the committee gave Chief of Police Phillip Francisco the task of modifying a plan of operation based on statistics and other data he and his team have gathered.

“Having a separate district is just going to be a label … It won’t be anything tangible,” explained Francisco. “I can’t take services away when there’s a huge need in Chinle – the call for services is immense.

“To run a district, it would cost $5 million a year in addition to what funding we already have,” he said. Allen said they did a lot of their own data gathering before Francisco came on board in July 2016 and concluded a police district was recommended. Allen told Francisco exactly how he should proceed with establishing the district.

“There’s all this running and you’re losing time to respond,” said Allen to Francisco. “So if there is a district and supervisor there it would work a lot better. There’s a critical need.”

But Allen is not alone in wanting more police stationed in the rural areas. Delegate Leonard Tsosie has been harping for years on the need for substations in the remote chapters of Eastern Agency. To Francisco, substations aren’t needed. Instead he said opening up chapter houses for officers is more feasible.