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TAHLEQUAH, OK - The Cherokee Nation Marshal Service has entered into a cross-deputization agreement with District Attorney Gene Haynes. Haynes is D.A. for District 12, which includes Rogers, Mayes and Craig counties.

Cherokee Nation Marshals have sole jurisdiction over Cherokee restricted land. No state or local agency can enforce the law on Indian land without a cross-deputization agreement. County deputies and members of a District Attorney’s Task Force have authority to enforce the law on non-Indian lands. The cross-deputization agreement means that Cherokee Nation Marshals can now assist local law enforcement agencies on non-Indian land, and that local law enforcement agencies can now assist the marshals on Indian land.

"It eliminates a lot of confusion," said Dave Roberts, director of the Cherokee Nation Marshal Service. "Officers won’t have to worry about whether or not they are on Indian land and they can just enforce the law."

The Cherokee Nation Marshal Service has developed a very capable team that handles drug investigations. That expertise is one reason that many law enforcement agencies in northeastern Oklahoma have cross-deputized with the Marshal Service.

Roberts says that the marshals’ main emphasis is to protect Cherokee citizens on Indian land, but his group looks forward to assisting local law enforcement agencies in any way possible.

"Even though we now have law enforcement authority in those counties, we will exercise that authority with caution and restraint, particularly in those counties where the Sheriff has not opted to sign an agreement with the Marshal Service," Roberts said.

Rogers County is such a county. Roberts says the Cherokee Nation Marshal Service will not patrol or provide assistance in Rogers County unless requested by the Sheriff’s office.

"We will respond to calls only if the sheriff’s office refers the call to our dispatch or sergeant on duty or if the District Attorney’s Task Force requests us to assist in their efforts," Roberts said. "We will help as much or as little as the Sheriff and District Attorney wants us to."