Court Service Officers

The Central Council Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska requests $881,184 in grant funds for PA3. Tlingit & Haida proposes a three-year project to provide courtroom security in the Tlingit & Haida Tribal Court and improve communications between the Tribal Court and law enforcement agencies, including Village Public Safety Officers, by staffing two Court Service Officers. This project will enhance the Tribal Court's ability to exercise its sovereign powers within the Southeast Alaska region, provide justice services to its 33,000 Tlingit & Haida Tribal citizens in Alaska and beyond, and deepen partnerships between the many branches of the tribal justice system.

The Tlingit & Haida Tribal Court is the primary institution responsible for ensuring access to justice services in rural Native communities in Southeast Alaska. Tribal Court staff and individuals served by the justice system have expressed concerns related to courtroom security; Tlingit & Haida’s most recent BIA Tribal Court Assessment noted the lack of a courtroom bailiff and recommended that action be taken to address this gap. Staff and partners have also noticed delays in the service of court orders and document processing due to limited staff capacity to communicate Tribal Court business with law enforcement.

The resultant project seeks to address these two gaps by hiring two Court Service Officer positions to be staffed in Tlingit & Haida’s Public Safety Department and assigned to the Tribal Court. The Court Service Officers will function as court security and as liaisons between the Tribal Court and law enforcement agencies, including the Village Public Safety Officer program.

The 2022 PA3 proposal will focus on hiring and training two Court Service Officers and utilizing these new positions to (1) provide courtroom security during Tribal Court proceedings, (2) develop procedures for court security, (3) facilitate the delivery of court documentation to law enforcement actors and process return documents, (4) serve process documents in accordance with instructions from the courts and agency standards operating procedures, and (5) develop procedures for communications between the Tribal Court and law enforcement.

Project objectives and deliverables include: 100% attendance of court security at Tribal Court proceedings, the development of reasonable and effective Tribal Court security procedures, increased speed of delivery and processing of court-related documents, quick and successful court order service, and the development of procedures for communications between the Tribal Court and law enforcement agencies.