Tribal police officers, like local police across the country, can detain and search non-Indians suspected of state and federal crimes in Indian country, including making suspects wait until state or federal officers arrive to take over the case.

Addressing a situation that could become increasingly common in Oklahoma, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that tribal law enforcement officers can temporarily detain and search non-Indian suspects traveling on public roads in Indian reservations.

Overview. There are about 574 federally recognized American Indian Tribes in the United States, and the FBI has federal law enforcement responsibility on nearly 200 Indian reservations. This federal jurisdiction is shared concurrently with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Office of Justice Services.

Huck wrote that although the marshals have jurisdiction over Indian reservations, their authority was severely limited to issues like management of natural resources and gaming. He said the only agency that can force tribal authorities is the U.S. Congress.

Yes. As U.S. citizens, American Indians and Alaska Natives are generally subject to federal, state, and local laws. On federal Indian reservations, however, only federal and tribal laws apply to members of the tribe, unless Congress provides otherwise.

And each of these problems is worse among the half of Natives who live on reservations. Many say the federal government is not giving American Indians enough money to combat these problems. Indians can’t own land, so they can’t build equity. Reservation land is held “in trust” for Indians by the federal government.

To explain the poverty of the reservations, people usually point to alcoholism, corruption or school-dropout rates, not to mention the long distances to jobs and the dusty undeveloped land that doesn’t seem good for growing much. The vast majority of land on reservations is held communally.

www.bia.gov/bia/ois/tgs/genealogy Publishes a downloadable Guide to Tracing Your Indian Ancestry. Has a vast online library, Tracing Native American Family Roots. www.ncai.org/tribal-directory Provides the online tribal directory where contact information for specific tribes can be found.

AB negative

Chances are higher you’ll live longer if you have type O blood. Experts think your lowered risk of disease in your heart and blood vessels (cardiovascular disease) may be one reason for this.

Each person has two Rh factors in their genetics, one from each parent. The only way for someone to have a negative blood type is for both parents to have at least one negative factor. For example, if someone’s Rh factors are both positive, it is not possible for his or her child to have a negative blood type.