"The New Mexico State Supreme Court made the right decision earlier this month when it ruled that law enforcement officers can pursue and question suspects of a crime onto reservation land.

Although the range of crime investigations this could affect is wide, it was a DWI conviction that brought it to the court's attention, and it is the pursuit of DWI suspects that perhaps most often are involved in the decision-making process of whether Farmington Police or San Juan County deputies may pursue a suspect onto the Navajo Nation.

Furthermore, Navajo Nation police seem fully supportive of the measure in seeking to get criminals and drunken drivers off the road.

This court ruling means no imaginary boundary line can protect drunken drivers from the arrest and full prosecution that they deserve.

Bravo!

Here is a branch of government, the judicial branch, that got it right.

The state Supreme Court reaffirmed the 2005 DWI conviction of David Harrison, a member of the Navajo Nation who was stopped and questioned by a San Juan County sheriff's deputy on reservation land. The deputy let the suspect leave the scene on foot but used information from the sobriety test to get an arrest warrant in Farmington."

Get the Story:
Editorial: A problem that transcends borders (The Farmington Daily Times 6/22)

Supreme Court Decision:
New Mexico v. Harrison (June 8, 2010)

Appeals Court Decision:
New Mexico v. Harrison (June 24, 2008)

Related Stories:
New Mexico court affirms state officer pursuit to reservation (6/9)