State v. KurtzState v. Kurtz
Warm Springs Tribal Police Officer Davino observed defendant commit a traffic violation on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation and signaled defendant to stop his vehicle. Defendant did not stop his vehicle until after he had crossed the reservation boundary into Jefferson County. During the traffic stop, an altercation occurred between Davino and defendant. As a result,
Defendant appealed, and the Court of Appeals reversed defendant’s convictions, concluding that, because Davino was a tribal police officer and not a police officer employed by an Oregon governmental unit, Davino was neither a “police officer” nor a “peace officer” for purposes of the fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer statute and the resisting arrest statute.
State v. Kurtz,
We take the facts from the record and the Court of Appeals opinion:
“The case was tried to the court, and the court made the following factual findings:
“ ‘Joseph Davino is a full time commissioned officer working for the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. Officer Davino was hired by Warm Springs on October 25, 2004.
“ ‘[Defendant] is a non-Indian who lives on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation.
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“ ‘During Officer Davino’s shift on January 19, 2005, he observed a vehicle driven by [defendant] on Highway 26. The two were traveling in opposite directions and Officer Davino thought [that defendant] was appearing to hide from him as they passed.
“ ‘Officer Davino turned his vehicle around and followed the car driven by [defendant]. Officer Davino testified that he followed the vehicle for approximately one mile and the driver and passenger appeared nervous.
“ ‘At a point very close to the reservation boundary [defendant] turned around to look at Officer Davino. When [defendant] turned around, his vehicle went across the center line and into the oncoming traffic lane of travel.
“ ‘Officer Davino activated his overhead lights to stop the vehicle driven by [defendant] for a traffic offense committed in the officer’s presence.
“ ‘The vehicle didn’t respond to the overhead lights and proceeded to go over the bridge across the Deschutes River that is the boundary of the Reservation.
“ ‘Officer Davino activated his siren near the boat entrance to the Deschutes River which is located off the Reservation and at this point believed that he had probable cause to stop the vehicle for the crime of Attempt to Elude Police with a Vehicle.
“ ‘The driver of the vehicle eventually pulled over. The passenger in the vehicle fled by foot. The driver of the vehicle [defendant] was detained at gun point and placed under arrest.’
“Defendant subsequently resisted arrest and was subdued with the assistance of additional tribal police officers and pepper spray. Davino was driving a marked Warm Springs patrol car and wearing his Warm Springs Police uniform at the time of the traffic stop. Davino was not deputized by the Jefferson County Sheriff nor had he attended the Oregon Police Academy at that time.”
On appeal, the Court of Appeals separately analyzed the statutes describing “police officer” and “peace officer” to determine whether the legislature intended to include tribal police within those statutory terms. The Court of Appeals first considered whether Davino was a “police officer” under
The Court of Appeals turned next to the definition of “peace officer,” set out in
On review, the state argues that, in restricting both statutory terms to “agent[s] of an Oregon governmental entity,” the Court of Appeals erroneously ignored the most common characteristic of all the types of law enforcement officers listed in
The crime of fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer is part of the Oregon Vehicle Code and is set out in
“(1) A person commits the crime of fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer if:
“(a) The person is operating a motor vehicle; and
“(b) A police officer who is in uniform and prominently displaying the police officer’s badge of office or operating a vehicle appropriately marked showing it to be an official police vehicle gives a visual or audible signal to bring the vehicle to a stop, including any signal by hand, voice, emergency light or siren, and either:
“(A) The person, while still in the vehicle, knowingly flees or attempts to elude a pursuing police officer[.]”
“ ‘Police officer’ includes a member of the Oregon State Police, a sheriff, a deputy sheriff, or a city police officer, a Port of Portland peace officer or a law enforcement officer employed by a service district established underORS 451.410 to 451.610 for the purpose of law enforcement services.”
(Emphasis added.)
The crime of resisting arrest is part of the Oregon Criminal Code and is set out in
“(1) A person commits the crime of resisting arrest if the person intentionally resists a person known by the person to be a peace officer or parole and probation officer in making an arrest.
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“(3) It is no defense to a prosecution under this section that the peace officer or parole and probation officer lacked legal authority to make the arrest or book the person, provided the officer was acting under color of official authority.”
For purposes of that statute, the term “peace officer” is defined in
“ ‘Peace officer’ means a sheriff, constable, marshal, municipal police officer, member of the Oregon State Police, investigator of the Criminal Justice Division of the Department of Justice or investigator of a district attorney’s office and such other persons as may be designated by law.” 3
(Emphasis added.)
We observe, as did the Court of Appeals, that a tribal police officer is not explicitly listed in either statute as a “police officer” or a “peace officer.” The question, then, is whether the legislature nevertheless intended to include a
tribal police officer within the meaning of those statutes.
4
To discern the legislature’s intent, we consider the statutory text, context, and any relevant legislative history.
State v. Gaines,
The legislature in
The dictionary definition for “police officer” is “a member of a police force.” Webster’s Third New Int’l Dictionary 1754 (unabridged ed 2002). “Police force,” in turn, is defined as “a professional body of trained officers * * * entrusted by government with the maintenance of public peace and order, the enforcement of laws, and the prevention and detection of crime.” Id. “Peace officer” is similarly defined as “a civil officer (as a sheriff, constable, policeman) whose duty is to preserve the public peace.” Id. at 1660.
Those definitions encompass tribal police officers. The Warm Springs tribal police are part of an extensive tribal law enforcement department that includes a 60-member police force, a correctional division, a fish and game division, and a detectives division. Tribal police are charged with maintaining public peace and order on the Warm Springs reservation by enforcing local
Despite those characteristics — shared with the officers listed in the pertinent statutes — the Court of Appeals concluded that tribal police officers were not included within the statutory term “police officer” for purposes of the Oregon Vehicle Code because:
“the term ‘police officer’ is defined byORS 801.395 by reference to law enforcement officials of the State of Oregon and governmental entities organized under state law. The context of the use of the term ‘police officer’ as defined byORS 801.395 is that the officer be an agent of an Oregon governmental entity. Because we conclude that Davino was not an agent of an Oregon governmental entity and, therefore, was not a ‘police officer’ within the meaning of the statute, defendant did not violateORS 811.540 in seeking to elude a ‘police officer,’ and the trial court erred in not granting his motion for judgment of acquittal on the fleeing and eluding charge.”
Kurtz,
“a ‘peace officer’ underORS 161.015(4) is a law enforcement official who is ‘designated by [Oregon] law.’ Any designation of Davino under tribal law is insufficient to qualify him as a ‘peace officer’ underORS 161.015(4) .”
Id. at 584 (brackets in original). For the reasons that follow, we disagree with the Court of Appeals. 6
As we have noted,
We turn next to the interpretive influence of the nonexclusive list of examples of a “police officer” set out in
For example, in
Bellika v. Green,
Bellika
illustrates one way in which the legislature can confine the scope of a general term (there, “uninhabitable”) by defining the specific conditions that render a dwelling unit “uninhabitable.” Other cases demonstrate how the same principle applies in other contexts.
See Lewis v. CIGNA Ins. Co.,
The legislature, however, can alter the calculus by signaling that it does not intend to confine the scope of a general term in a statute according to the characteristics of listed examples. Typically, statutory terms such as “including” and “including but not limited to,” when they precede a list of statutory examples, convey an intent that an accompanying list of examples be read in a nonexclusive sense. In that context, we continue to “give interpretive weight to all the words that the legislature used,” including both the general term and any specific examples.
Schmidt v. Mt. Angel Abbey,
“That does not mean, of course, that the specific examples constitute the universe of items to which the general term refers; rather, it means only that our interpretation of the general term includes consideration of those specific examples.”
Id. (footnote omitted). Applying those principles to a statute defining “sexual exploitation,” Schmidt stated:
“The legislature provided that ‘sexual exploitation’ includes, but is not limited to, the conduct enumerated in the statute. As a result, we cannot interpret the term as encompassing only the conduct in the listed examples.”
Id. at 405 (emphasis in original).
We return to
When examining the characteristics of a list of examples, for purposes of statutory interpretation, “the court seeks to find if it can, a
common
characteristic among the listed examples.”
Id.
(emphasis in original). The legislature’s composition of the listed
Two statutes, in particular, demonstrate the correctness of our conclusion.
“ ‘Police officer’ means an officer, member or employee of a law enforcement unit who is employed full-time as a peace officer commissioned by a city, port, school district, mass transit district, county, county service district authorized to provide law enforcement services underORS 451.010 , Indian reservation, the Criminal Justice Division of the Department of Justice, the Oregon State Lottery Commission or the Governor or who is a member of the Department of State Police and who is responsible for enforcing the criminal laws of this state or laws or ordinances relating to airport security or is an investigator of a district attorney’s office if the investigator is or has been certified as a peace officer in this or any other state.”
(Emphasis added.)
“ ‘Public safety officer’ means:
“(a) A member of a law enforcement unit who is employed full-time as a peace officer commissioned by a city, port, school district, mass transit district, county, Indian reservation, the Criminal Justice division of the Department of Justice, the Oregon State Lottery Commission or the Governor and who is responsible for enforcing the criminal laws of this state or laws or ordinances relating to airport security.”
(Emphasis added.)
Nevertheless, defendant asserts that, if tribal police are included within the definition of “police officer” and “peace officer,” for purposes of this case, the effect will be to also include police of any federally recognized tribe in the nation, law enforcement officers from other states and police officers from other nations. We disagree that our decision in this case has the far reaching effects defendant describes.
Tribes are limited sovereigns for whom the laws of the state in which they are located generally apply, unless those laws are preempted by federal law or somehow infringe on the right of reservation Indians to
Defendant’s arguments and the Court of Appeals decision that tribal police are not “police officers” for purposes of enforcing this state’s criminal laws would create a jurisdictional void for offenses by non-Indians against tribal police officers in which a victim’s status as a police officer is an element of the crime.
See, e.g.,
To the contrary, the legislature has recognized that tribal police are an integral part of the public safety system in this state and, because they are entrusted by government
The Court of Appeals erred in concluding that Davino was not a “police officer” or a “peace officer” for purposes of the crimes for which defendant was charged and convicted.
The decision of the Court of Appeals is reversed. The judgment of the circuit court is affirmed.
Notes
The relevant statutes are set out in full later in the opinion.
Throughout its opinion, the Court of Appeals used the current version of
Unlike
We note that the officers listed in
Tribal courts have criminal jurisdiction over all offenses committed by Indians in each tribe’s respective Indian country lands.
Unlike the Court of Appeals, which separately analyzed the terms “police officer” and “peace officer,” as we will explain, determining the legislature’s intended meaning of “police officer” also determines the legislature’s intended meaning of “peace officer.”
“(1) Employers of public safety officers shall adopt written procedures to implement the provisions ofORS 236.350 to 236.370.
“(2) Except as provided in subsection (3) of this section, the following safeguards apply when a public safety officer is under investigation concerning a matter that the officer reasonably believes may lead to economic sanctions or dismissal from employment and is subject to an interview by the officer’s employer:
“(4) Disciplinary action may not be taken against a public safety officer without just cause.”
The parties here do not argue that the statutes at issue are preempted or otherwise infringe on the tribe’s right to self-govern. We, therefore, assume without deciding that the statutes at issue apply. We note that the complexity of Indian law means that there is no single rule by which to resolve the question of when a particular state law applies to tribal reservations or to tribal members. That determination depends on the type of state law at issue, the existence of related tribal and federal law, and other factors.
White Mountain Apache Tribe v. Bracker,
This case, however, does not involve a jurisdictional question. The parties agree that the charged crimes occurred in Jefferson County and that the circuit court had jurisdiction over defendant. We mention it here to note that determining appropriate jurisdiction for criminal acts committed on an Indian reservation is dependent on a number of factors including whether the crime was committed on the reservation, whether the offender was Indian or non-Indian, the nature of the criminal act, and the applicability of Public Law 280.
Under
“Any member of a duly organized state, county or municipal peace unit of another state of the United States who enters this state in fresh pursuit, and continues within this state in such fresh pursuit, of a person in order to arrest the person on the ground that the person is believed to have committed a felony in the other state has the same authority to arrest and hold such person in custody as has any member of any duly organized state, county or municipal peace unit of this state to arrest and hold in custody a person on the ground that the person is believed to have committed a felony in this state.”
The Warm Springs Tribal Code also includes a fresh pursuit provision, which permits officers to issue a citation at a place beyond their jurisdictional authority when a person commits a traffic offense in the officer’s presence and at a place where the officer had jurisdiction, as long as the officer arrests or cites the person at the conclusion of a continuous pursuit. WSTC § 310.120(1).
The United States Supreme Court has affirmed the authority of tribal police to stop and detain non-Indian offenders who violate state law on Indian land.
See Strate v. A-1 Contractors,