Talking Tribal Policing and De-escalation with Chief Jacob 

Molitor

Voiceover

00:00

Welcome to The Beat—a podcast series from the COPS Office at the Department of Justice. Featuring 

interviews with experts from a varied field of disciplines, The Beat provides law enforcement with the 

latest developments and trending topics in community policing.

Jennifer Donelan

00:16

Hello everyone, and welcome to The Beat. I’m your host, Jennifer Donelan. Today, we have a very 

special guest and I hope you enjoy today’s podcast and walk away having learned new things with new 

perspectives. Today, we have joining us Chief Jacob Molitor. Chief Jacob Molitor joined the Meskwaki 

Nation Police Department of Tama, Iowa, in 2012 and was promoted to chief of police in May of 2019. 

He is proud to be the only chief of police in the department’s history who started out as a patrol officer 

and was promoted from within. Upon his promotion to chief of police, his top priorities were to 

implement department cultural trainings, provide biannual education on the use of force to council 

members and others within tribal operations, improve partnerships with surrounding agencies, and 

increase communication, transparency, and accountability for the public.

In February of 2020, Chief Molitor’s team became the first known police department to collect deescalation statistics. The agency collects those statistics using their own defined metrics. Their process 

of documenting and recognizing de-escalated situations assists with community support, officer safety 

alerts, and praise of officers—we’re going to talk about that in just a second. Chief Molitor’s agency 

prides itself on being innovative, respectful, supportive, and well-trained. If he had to choose—we’re 

going to ask him about this—the most important training sought by Chief Molitor would be interviewing, 

de-escalation, crisis intervention, and leadership-related training because they revolve around effective 

communication. He believes our most important assets are our people and that we need to invest in our 

future.

Chief, I want to thank you for joining us here on The Beat. 

Chief Jacob Molitor

01:55

Thank you for having me, Jennifer.

Donelan

01:57

You know, Chief, this is the first time we’re speaking to a chief of a tribal nation.
Molitor 

02:02

I’m honored to be the first one.

Donelan

02:04

It’s really exciting for me personally because again, as I mentioned at the beginning, it’s really an 

opportunity for us to learn about something that I know very little about. And so, I think our listeners 

are going to be engaged. So, let’s go to the beginning of you career because it’s something that we talk 

to everybody about on The Beat, and that’s how did you get started in law enforcement? And then I 

want to talk about the tribal nation.

Molitor

02:26

So, I really looked up to my uncle, Jim Kahn. He was a Minnesota state trooper when I was in high 

school. He’s the type of person that he doesn’t say a whole lot. He looks like your typical police officer 

with a mustache and he’s just an all-around great guy and respectable. I wanted to be like him. That’s 

pretty much what it comes down to.

Donelan

02:46

And you were debating, right? Weren’t you debating between three different jobs? Welder, I 

understand, was one of them.

Molitor

02:52

Yup. Gym teacher was the other one. And ultimately, I chose police officer.

Donelan

02:56

And you chose police officer and then rose through the ranks very quickly. You’re now chief of police 

and you’ve been chief of police for what? Two and a half years now? Interim before that. 

Molitor

03:06

Correct.
Donelan

03:07

So, another thing that I failed to mention that we’re going to talk about in just a little bit: Chief Molitor is 

also chair of the Small & Rural Law Enforcement Executives Association, so we’re going to talk about 

that in just a second. I want to get into law enforcement in the tribal nation. Describe for me: What’s 

that like? Is it what non-tribal law enforcement agencies... Is it typical what one might envision, or are 

there some differences?

Molitor

03:33

Honestly, it’s the hidden gem of law enforcement. I would not want to be anywhere else.

Donelan

03:38

Why is that?

Molitor

03:39

Because it’s like one big family. You don’t all get along, but you’re all on the same mission for the same 

team.

Donelan

03:46

So, Chief, let’s also begin by talking about your agency—number of officers, what size area do you serve, 

and what are some of the public-safety issues that you face, your officers face?

Molitor

03:58

Sure. We have 12 square miles that we cover. I have 13 sworn officers and we face challenges of alcohol 

and drugs and also assaults.

Donelan

04:10

Now, you also have a casino, which a casino can bring with it also certain related crimes, correct?

Molitor

04:18

Absolutely. We have a lot of theft-related cases there, fraud. We’re also able to utilize the casino to host 

a lot of training to help combat those things. It’s one of those things that we see a lot of variety with 

outside people coming to the casino, but we also have that consistency in a small area where we have 

an opportunity to get to know people within our community, and we can make a noticeable impact that 
way. We have almost 1,500 tribal members and we have an additional thousand or so descendants, and

descendants are those that don’t meet the criteria to become enrolled members, but there are also

people that live within our jurisdiction.

Donelan

04:58

I was going to say, so that’s about 2,500 that are living within your jurisdiction then, it sounds like. And

I’m sure that your population size bounces up when you start to look at the casino.

Molitor

05:08

Absolutely. The interesting thing about Tama, Iowa, is that Tama was actually a Meskwaki leader. And

when... Of course, Tama County, where we’re at, and the City of Tama, which is adjacent to us, were

both named after him and he was known as a friend to the early White settlers. The meaning of the

word Tama is actually a powerful thunder that shakes the ground like an earthquake.

Donelan

05:33

That’s awesome.

Molitor

05:35 

Yup. An elder shared that with me. 

Donelan

05:36

An elder shared that story with you? That’s phenomenal.

Molitor

05:39

Absolutely.

Donelan

05:40

That’s great. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the name of your— 

Molitor

05:42

Yeah.

Donelan

05:42

—of your area.
Molitor

05:42

And Tama was actually part of the Thunder Clan, of course.

Donelan

05:46

So, tell me... 13 officers—they must be close.

Molitor

05:51

Absolutely. We have a really good group of people.

Donelan

05:54

Now, everything that you mentioned about dealing with issues or public-safety issues that stem from

alcohol or drugs or theft, et cetera—when you have a business that can sometimes attract those who 

wish to do harm, so to say, you have to be prepared for everything and you have 13 officers. So, deescalation has been one of your key things here, and you are actually keeping statistics on it. Talk to me 

just about de-escalation—why it’s so important in your specific situation, because, you know, some may

be very surprised to find out that you can’t call for backup from outside agencies.

Molitor

06:29

Just like any agency, there’s a lot of stress. Nobody wants to use force if they don’t have to use force, 

and it’s something that is a reality for every law enforcement agency. So, I wanted to be able to reward 

officers for de-escalating situations. Another key thing was to be able to have video to share with other 

officers on how they did it. So, what we consider to be a de-escalation for our department is in-person 

occurrences of cursing at officers, aggressive language, threat, or fighting cues, displays of any weapon 

or item or self-harm or harming of others. So, what happens is the officers send out an email that’s real 

short and sweet and says the fact that it’s a de-escalation. They say, “DE;” they list the case number; 

they put cursing, or whatever the specific thing was that the person did; they put the month that it 

occurred because I print it off and put it in a binder, and they put the subject’s name down that was 

aggressive or did whatever they did. And what it does is it actually acts as a notification to the other 

officers that this person was being aggressive and to, of course, be aware of that for any future 

encounters with that person. We also use those statistics as a way of congratulating the officers. It’s 

instant gratification for them when they send them out because it goes out to every single person in the 

department.
Donelan

07:47

What I am so intrigued by this is that it’s positive reinforcement, right? I mean, it goes back to 

fundamental way of teaching, a fundamental way of reinforcing certain behaviors, actions, practices, et 

cetera. So, the de-escalation and the process of actually rewarding them, I mean, you give them an 

award, correct?

Molitor

08:07

Absolutely. We factor in our Officer of the Year Award that was put in place last year, the de-escalations. 

So, we also factor in work ethic of course, and the handling of critical use of force situation. So, in no 

way are we discrediting any use of force that is necessary as part of our careers, but we’re rewarding 

situations that wouldn’t have otherwise been known and having some sort of tangible number to be 

able to report that the officers did well.

To give you some numbers here, we have had a reduction in our uses of force. I can’t say the past year 

and I can’t direct say it was or wasn’t because of our de-escalation statistic gathering, but in 2020 we 

had one use of force for every 6.93 arrests. And in 2021 to this point, we have had one use of force for 

every 8.39 arrests. In 2020, we had 25 uses of force, which our standard use of force could be somebody 

putting hands on somebody, somebody pointing a taser, or any sort of those things. So, we had 41 deescalations in 2020 and we had only 33 to this point this year and had 38 uses of force last year. So, it’s 

25 uses of force last year, 38 this year—more uses of force and actually less de-escalations this year, but 

less overall uses of force per arrest.

Donelan

09:32

So, something’s working.

Molitor

09:35

Absolutely. So, we’ve done a lot in gathering statistics to understand when we’re busy, when we’re not 

busy as far as having officers available for those particular calls so that our officers are safe. Especially, 

you know, considering the fact that our backup isn’t as frequent from outside agencies.

Donelan

09:53

Let’s talk about that for just a second—because your backup isn’t as frequent, it’s really important, 

right? That A, you’re able to de-escalate situations before they get bad, which is what everybody wants 

to do, but you have a really sort of unique motivator there. Tell me about your safety alerts—your 

officer safety alerts. When someone is involved in a situation that’s escalating, you immediately notify 

the other officers because you only have each other to back each other up, correct?
Molitor

10:22

Correct. That’s what our de-escalation emails do is they let the other officers know that someone was 

acting in that way. So, a lot of times you would only know if somebody committed an offense where 

they were arrested, whereas we have occurrences that don’t result in an arrest or might not have any 

report associated with it, but it’s also a way for us to be able to look and see the great behavior that the 

officers took to get to that conclusion and for us to use as training videos in our annual meetings or 

those sorts of things.

Donelan

10:52

I don’t know of many police departments I could call up and say, “How many de-escalations did you 

have last year?” 

Molitor

11:00

None, other than us.

Donelan

11:02

And when you explain it and the positives behind it, it kind of seems like, well, what are we waiting for? 

Why haven’t we’ve been doing this? Is it difficult to track? I understand, you know—13 police officers, 

12 square miles, what? 6,000 calls a year, something like that? I mean, that’s still a lot of calls. Was it a 

challenge at first to keep track of this?

Molitor

11:21

Honestly, it’s not. The officers send it out and I print it out, put it in the folder, and then monthly I send 

out the statistics to reinforce to the officers. They can see where they’re at in comparison to the other 

officers and most police officers I know are pretty competitive, so when they see that they’re behind 

another officer in de-escalation, they want catch up.

Donelan

11:42

Have you ever had a situation where someone tried to de-escalate something, an officer tried to deescalate a situation that really shouldn’t have been... Basically, it was impossible to de-escalate, so to 

say?

Molitor

11:54

No, no, but I know that’s a big fear of officers that, “Hey, they’re going to push de-escalation so hard 

that we can’t use force,” and that is the farthest thing from the truth for our department anyway. I can’t 

speak for all agencies if they did this, but I want to capture data that other people don’t see.
Donelan

12:10

So, no bad occurrences, nothing where somebody got hurt, one of your officers got hurt because they 

didn’t take necessary force that they needed to in order to keep themselves or someone else safe? 

Molitor

12:22

So, I’ll give you an example.

Donelan

12:24

Okay.

Molitor

12:25

Person points knife or... Usually in that situation, we would be using force because we would be pointing 

a firearm back at that individual, but if there’s some sort of self-harm or aggressive language, anything 

like that, and the officer handles it and it doesn’t result in any use of force, then it’s a de-escalation. If at 

the end of that call, there is a use of force, there is no credit for the de-escalation earlier in that 

particular call. Let’s say it drags out and ends up in the use of force.

Donelan

12:56

So, Chief, can you give us a little more insight into the de-escalation? I mean, we understand you’re 

collecting the data on it, but there’s other efforts that you’ve made also on this topic.

Molitor

13:07

Absolutely. To make the de-escalation more helpful, what we’ve done is we have actually sent officers 

to training and the more training we can do, the better. We have two level 3 crisis negotiators, one level 

1 crisis negotiator, and two de-escalation instructors, and we plan on sending additional officers to deescalation school.

Donelan

13:29

And then do you also do peer reviews? They can even review you, right?

Molitor

13:33

Absolutely. And they have. I have taken that information and applied it the best I can. The way we do 

that—I actually got this idea from Simon Sinek, it’s still... It’s a one-of-a-kind thing that I’ve done that 

I’ve actually shared this with additional agencies that have heard about it, but we look at things 
differently. Opposite of our reviews that are by our supervisors, we have a peer review. So, every six

months, we are in a constant state of improvement in our department. Every officer has the ability to 

review every single employee on the department. 

What we look at is not just who do I want to fill in a leadership position, for example, but who the 

officers want to follow. Another thing we look at is different areas of trust and do we trust them with 

our lives. Yes, most often we do in law enforcement trust people with our lives because that’s what we 

train to do, but what we don’t train to do is to look at confidentiality. Do we trust this person with

information? Would we trust this person alone with our significant other? Those sorts of things.

Donelan

14:37

So, as chair of the Small & Rural Law Enforcement Executives Association, is this something that you’ve 

brought to the table and discussed with others, and has there been any feedback if so? I mean, are 

others expressing any interest and possibly following suit?

Molitor

14:53

We have actually haven’t had that discussion.

Donelan

14:55

So, you haven’t had that discussion, why not?

Molitor

14:58

I’ve talked about it, like brought it up, but we haven’t gone into great detail with our board about my 

process within our department. I definitely think that it’s one of those things that I’ve made comments 

to others about, but nobody’s following suit and I can’t tell you why.

Donelan

15:13

Do you think what you touched on earlier in terms of the fear that this translates to you can’t use force 

and that scares some, that that may be why others aren’t necessarily following suit?

Molitor

15:25

I don’t really see a downside to it because it’s either a use of force or it’s a de-escalation. When it’s use 

of force, it also can be a positive thing because it means that a person is, you know, being aggressive to 

the point where we had to use force against them.
Donelan

15:38

Well, you know, in this day and age, with everyone looking for innovative ways to improve community 

and law enforcement relations, to instill trust in police and to deal with the concerns that have been out 

there, that have been held by members of the community, this seems like something that would be 

welcomed, I’m assuming. I mean, what has been the feedback? So that I don’t assume. What has been 

the feedback from your community?

Molitor

16:04

Our community hasn’t given us any feedback whatsoever. It’s really our process and I provided the 

statistics, but it has not been acknowledged within the tribe by any one individual.

Donelan

16:15

What is the relationship between your community and the police department?

Molitor

16:18

It’s great. The community involves us in about everything that they do. We just had a Shop with a Cop, 

for example, the last couple days. They made a traditional meal for all the kids. What happened beyond 

shopping—we brought the kids to Walmart but then we came back, we actually wrapped gifts together, 

and community members made frybread and Indian corn, other things, and we’re involved.

Donelan

16:40

So, you’re relatively a young police agency, right? I mean, you were founded in 2006?

Molitor

16:45

Correct. We just turned 15 years old.

Donelan

16:48

Have you always enjoyed that relationship with the community, that sort of positive relationship? 

Because I can imagine people listening what you just described and say, “Okay, I want that. How do we 

get that?” 
Molitor

16:59

Sure. It hasn’t always been that way; it was earned. I think in a lot of communities, people tend to trust 

you until you give them a reason not to trust you, but in our community, trust has to be earned. And 

once you earn it, it’s kind of like in some communities where countries where people are really hard to 

get to know, but once you know them, it’s the best friendship or the best relationship you could ever 

have because they fully trust you.

Donelan

17:22

In terms of differences, can you shed some light? And not necessarily differences—differences and 

similarities—but if you had to paint a picture to help us envision what it is to be a tribal nation police 

department, how would you answer that?

Molitor

17:36

So, we don’t have any private companies within our jurisdiction; everything is through the tribe. So, we 

have our own natural resources department, human resources, gaming commission, casino, food 

sovereignty, higher education, housing, apprenticeship, IT, senior services, museum, workforce 

development, child support, all these different entities, a clinic, and so on through the tribe and they’re 

all tribal employees or casino employees. So, we’re all in it together. It’s not like you go to one 

household and they speak one language or they’re so much different from each other. Where you go 

from house to house here, they all have the same beliefs as one another.

Donelan

18:17

That’s certainly unique.

Molitor

18:18

It doesn’t mean they all get along, but it means that everyone comes together and is one community 

and one family.

Donelan

18:26

So, talking about some of the differences—let’s explain a little bit about the backup topic I mentioned 

earlier. You used to have MOUs with other departments and now you don’t. Could you kind of explain 

that situation?
Molitor

18:38

So, we’re all state-certified officers in our department, like how a lot of tribal agencies are. Prior to 2018, 

everything on the Meskwaki settlement had the ability to be charged through state court. In December 

of 2018, that changed with the repeal of the 1948 Act through Congress. And what that did was make us 

more like the rest of Indian Country, which is federal territory. So, that really changed everything for us. 

It gives the tribe more sovereignty. It was overall a positive thing, but it impacted the relationship 

because it made our surrounding agencies unable to arrest tribal members on tribal land for state 

offenses.

Donelan

19:19

And you are the only tribal nation in Iowa?

Molitor

19:22

Correct. So, within our tribal code we have the ability to give arrest powers to other agencies. So, Toledo 

or Tama—Tama County, where we’re at—through an agreement, we give them arrest powers, tribally. 

Not that they would fill out any tickets or anything like that, but they would have the ability to be a 

sworn officer on the Meskwaki settlement.

Donelan

19:42

And now without that that’s given you sovereignty, but at the same time, that’s taken away some 

backup for you, which can be challenging I’m sure in those rare instances where you might need help.

Molitor

19:53

Right. So, using our statistics what we’ve done is we have two-officer minimum from noon to midnight. 

So that has definitely helped have the appropriate number of people there when we need them.

Donelan

20:05

And if they were to be a major critical incident, like a school shooting—God forbid—in that case, would 

you be able to ask for assistance?

Molitor

20:15

Yeah, and we actually just did assist Tama County not too long ago. Within the past month, there was an 

officer-involved shooting about 30 minutes from our jurisdiction and we sent one of our crisis 

negotiators there, as well as an additional officer for support absent that agreement. We have an 

obligation under Iowa Code and Tribal Code to assist.
Donelan

20:38

Can you give us some insight into the Small & Rural Law Enforcement Executives Association that you’re 

a chair of? How does that play into your role there? What are its objectives? Is it idea sharing?

Molitor

20:50

So, we have two other tribal police chiefs on the Small & Rural Law Enforcement Executives Association. 

The association started in January, but prior to that, Mike Brown, who had served for 53 years in Virginia 

in Bedford County, he and John Thompson, who was the chief of police as well in Maryland, they got 

together with some other retired officers and knew that small and rural was not represented nationally. 

So, they created this association that started in January that represents over 90 percent of the small and 

rural agencies across the United States. It’s hard to believe when we say small and rural, we’re talking 

about 75,000 population or less for cities.

Donelan

21:35

Yeah, that doesn’t sound small and rural to me. [Laughs]

Molitor

21:38

Right. But for our classifications, if you were to take those agencies and line up all those officers with the 

New Yorks, the Los Angeles, the Houston, all that—9 out of 10 officers would be a small and rural 

officer. When you talk about even smaller yet, over 50 percent of officers—or departments, I should say, 

across the United States have 10 or less officers.

Donelan

22:02

How’s recruitment for you?

Molitor

22:04

Recruitment is not good right now.

Donelan

22:06

So, you’re facing the same challenges that law enforcement agencies across the country are facing right 

now?

Molitor

22:10

Absolutely. We’re fortunate that we’re good at retaining officers. We’re only looking to fill one position, 

but it is hard to recruit in any profession right now.
Donelan

22:21

And let me ask what feels like a silly question. Can you only recruit from the tribe?

Molitor

22:25

That is a common myth, and we do not have any tribal officers on our department.

Donelan

22:30

Huh. 

Molitor

22:30

We do have two tribal members on our department. We have an office manager and a correctional 

officer who are both part of the tribe, but that is one of the most frequent myths that we see. So, tribes 

have tribal preference. If you and I both applied for the same position, have the same qualifications, and 

you were Native and I was non-Native, you would get the job.

Donelan

22:52

I’m actually so happy that we debunked that myth. And I don’t necessarily know if it’s a myth or just 

really bad assumption. So, let’s say someone who’s thinking about getting into law enforcement, what 

would you say would be the advantages to joining a tribal police department?

Molitor

23:06

So, tribes, with their sovereignty are the most safe from liability of any law enforcement agency. So, 

with tribal sovereignty with lawsuits and things like that, we’re more protected than other places. The 

special law enforcement commissions that we’re able to have to enforce federal law, with that comes 

federal protections.

Donelan

23:28

So, let’s go back to the commissions. Who makes up those commissions?

Molitor

23:32

So, special law enforcement commissions are basically like a driver’s license. You have to renew them;

you have to do updated training and background checks. They’re issued by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. 

All we have to do is go through Indian Country jurisdiction training through the United States Attorney’s 

Office to be able to be issued those commissions. They’re per officer, not by department.
Donelan

23:52

Per officer. So, is that essentially what gives you your law enforcement authority?

Molitor

23:57

That’s specific to federal authority.

Donelan

23:59

So, let me further understand the commission. So, I’m a law enforcement officer for a tribal police 

department, am I automatically commissioned then?

Molitor

24:07

So, it is not a requirement to have a special law enforcement commission as a tribal officer. It is often 

needed because of our jurisdictional surroundings, because of non-Natives being within our jurisdictions 

due to our casinos and things like that. So, in tribal communities where there aren’t any casinos, there’s 

probably not a need for a special law enforcement commission because they don’t have a lot of outside 

individuals.

Donelan

24:33

So that special law enforcement commission enables your tribal officers to arrest people who are nontribal members?

Molitor

24:41

An example: You as a non-Native steal something from our gas station, you cannot be charged in state 

court, you can only be charged in federal court because you committed a crime against a tribal 

organization. Same thing: You as a non-Native trespass at the Meskwaki Casino, it’s a victimless crime, 

so you’re going to be charged in state court. But you caused damage to our slot machine, you’re going 

to be charged in federal court because that’s the tribe’s property.

Donelan

25:07

And in order for your officer to arrest me, do they have to have their special law enforcement 

commission? 

Molitor

25:12

Yes, otherwise it’s referred to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Attorney files that.
Donelan

25:17

Okay, I understand. Is there anything that you want to make sure that people who are listening to us 

right now walk away with a better understanding of?

Molitor

25:26

So, I have great respect for tribes and their culture. They’re people of oral tradition, so you’re not going 

to hear or read a lot about what they do and why they do it. But for example, we just had a community 

member die. Things are going to be quiet around the Meskwaki settlement because people grieve 

together. That person didn’t even live in the State of Iowa when they passed away, so there’s basically 

an informal mourning period. On the day of the funeral, starts the four days of mourning and over that 

time we’re not going to be playing loud music, we’re not going to have parties.

Any events that aren’t business—they’re canceled. People aren’t going to do things they really enjoy—

parties, bead work, anything like that. After those four days, what they do is they have an adoption 

ceremony. They choose someone from the community that most resembles that person, not to replace 

them, but to fill the void in the family’s life.

Donelan

26:19

Oh, wow!

Molitor

26:20

So, let’s say... Are you married?

Donelan

26:23

Yes.

Molitor

26:24

Okay. You’re Native and you pass away. That person that’s adopted for you is going to be the mom to 

your kids.

Donelan

26:32

Wow!
Molitor

26:32

They’ll buy gifts, things like that. So, it kind of goes back to way back in the day when a little girl lost her 

mom and, you know, turns to another woman in the community and says, “Will you be my mom?” That 

type of thing. And, “Well, yes, I will.” That type of thing. And there’s qualities about you that will actually 

go with the person that was adopted for you. So, what’s something you really like to eat?

Donelan

26:53

Pizza. 

Molitor

26:54

Pizza. So, the person that was adopted for you hated pizza before, but now guess what?

Donelan

26:59

They love pizza.

Molitor

27:00

They might love pizza now because your spirit is now with them.

Donelan

27:04

And just bringing it back, this is something the entire community participates in, so your police officers, 

your department?

Molitor

27:10

Business is business. For example, we have a youth hunt, we had our Shop with a Cop that I talked about 

before. That would have been canceled if the death occurred before those events. A lot of things get 

rescheduled. So, for example, I was at the Meskwaki settlement school like I often am. I have my own 

lunch account there, and I like doing recess with the kids and that sort of thing. So, they have a lot of 

events within the community where there’s free food and that type of thing. Basically, everybody gets 

together, playing catch and having a good time, and then pretty soon, you’ll start seeing people walk out 

and you hear that someone had passed away, you know, out of state or wherever it is. People don’t 

complain about it; it’s just the way of life. So, in non-Native culture, we revolve ourselves around events. 

It’s not that way with them. We revolve ourselves around that individual.
Donelan

28:00

Sounds like something very special to be a part of and a truly deep meaning and sense of community 

and family.

Molitor

28:05

Absolutely.

Donelan

28:06

That’s very special. And thank you so much for sharing that with us.

Molitor

28:09

Yeah, of course. One place that most people are familiar with is the city of Chicago and believe it or not, 

Chicago is actually an Indian word and it actually means stinky onion.

Donelan

28:20

Who knew that?

Molitor

28:22

Or wild onion. So, what happened was is that when White settlers first arrived to what became Chicago, 

there was a lot of onion fields around and they asked the Natives what they called that, so they told 

them.

Donelan

28:34

And it’s stuck. Okay, so I don’t think our listeners have ever had a story like this, so I know this one’s 

going to stick with them. They now know the secret behind the name Chicago. It’s a stinky onion, 

everyone. [Laughs]

Molitor

28:48

I think most people would agree.

Donelan

28:53

Oh, I love Chicago. It’s my favorite city.
Molitor

28:54

Oh, I love Chicago too, but you got to have a little fun and that’s a thing about Indian humor too, you 

have to have fun.

Donelan

29:00

That’s right. That’s right. So, listen, if anyone wanted to get in touch with you to talk more about your 

data collection on de-escalation or anything about tribal policing or about the Small & Rural Law 

Enforcement Executives Association, how can they get in touch with you?

Molitor

29:18

My email is J Molitor, M-O-L-I-T-O-R-dot-MNPD, like Mary, Nora, Paul, David, at Meskwaki, M-E-S-K-WA-K-I-hyphen-NSN, like in Nora, Sam, Nora, dot-gov. [JMolitor.MNPD@Meskwaki-NSN.gov] And the 

Small & Rural Law Enforcement Executives Association is not just for executives. It’s also open to all 

sworn reserves, retired officers, correctional staff, civilian employees, and criminal justice students. 

We’re actually hosting the first-ever in-person conference at the Meskwaki Casino—April 27th to the 

29th. We’ll have up to 250 people there. We’ll also have vendors. We’re really excited and I would love 

for you to come and to be able to meet you and to be able to answer any other questions you have 

about Meskwaki culture, tribal policing, and jurisdiction, which is easier understood under more indepth conversation.

Donelan

30:19

Up close and personal it must be something to see. I cannot thank you enough for sharing this time with 

us and taking us into your law enforcement agency and into your community and sharing with us. We 

wish you the best of luck. I’m going to keep an eye on your efforts and your innovations on de-escalation 

and see if that catches on. I have a feeling it just might.

Molitor

30:42

Thank you so much.

Donelan

30:43

And thank you everyone for joining us here on The Beat. 

Voiceover: The Beat Exit

30:48

The Beat is brought to you by the United States Department of Justice’s COPS Office. The COPS Office 

helps to keep our nation’s community safe by giving grants to law enforcement agencies, developing 

community policing publications, developing partnerships, and solving problems. If you have comments 
or suggestions, please email our Response Center at AskCOPSRC@usdoj.gov or check out our social 

media on Facebook, www.facebook.com/dojcops, on YouTube, www.youtube.com/c/dojcopsoffice, or 

on Twitter, @COPSOffice. Our website is www.cops.usdoj.gov. 

Voiceover: Disclaimer

31:45

The opinions contained herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official 

position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. References to specific agencies, companies, 

products, or services should not be considered an endorsement by the authors or the U.S. Department 

of Justice; rather, the references are illustrations to supplement discussion of the issues.