Comanche Nation Swears in New Chief of Police
Comanche Nation Police Department (CNPD) has a new chief.
Keiran Daly was sworn in on Wednesday, Aug. 26, in the Code Talker Room at Comanche Nation headquarters.
He’s been the acting chief twice during his 19 years at CNPD, and before that, was working for Fort Sill.
“I was on active duty out here. I did my basic, my AIT and my duty station out here at Fort Sill. I spent five years out here active duty. I started off as a reserve deputy, got into it just as a volunteer as far as basis. And when I got out, I went as far as full-time,” Daly said. “Back then, things were a little different as far as you didn't have this 16-week academy like you do now and things like that. So, it's a little bit different, mostly OJT back then, but I loved it. I started the sheriff's department, and Fort Sill was looking for full-time certified officers. At that time, I had met my wife, and we got together, started having kids. So, I need better benefits. County didn't provide squat. So, I went out there, much better benefits. And then I got recruited from former Chief Vernon Griffin, and I got hired as detective. I've been here ever since, since 2008. During that time period though, I've done a lot of different things, a lot of different trainings. But I've got the experience. And part of it was, I was in charge as far as criminal investigations over there for a time being. And then after Vernon left, Ron took over, I moved over to his assistant chief, and pretty much kind of stayed in that role there.”
He said he felt honored and proud to be sworn in.
“But it's a huge responsibility as well. Right now, everything that I do reflects as far as on the entire, as far as department; decisions that I make affect not only the department, but the people we serve,” Daly said. “So, it's caused me to slow down a little bit, take in a little more information to help me make better decisions. But I've got some goals. I've got some plans. There's things I'd like to do that I've been wanting to do for a long time. And I'm excited about that. So, part of it is, you know, yeah, I'm a little nervous, but I'm also excited. I'm excited because I think I can make some positive changes.”
And those changes include engaging with the younger demographic.
“My goal is to teach the younger officers below me to want to aspire to be higher. To me, everybody that's below the lowest ranking officer should want to be the higher ranking. Everybody below, we want to, goal is to do more cross-training, to do more mentorship. We're going to target young Comanche tribal members that are of age that are interested in getting in law enforcement and try to mentor them for future leaders,” he said. “So, you know, it's something that we haven't really been targeted before. I don't know why, but it's always been a focus and an interest…of mine and a question I think for a lot of people is, ‘How many Comanche members do we have?’ Well, we should have as many as we can hire, you know. But unfortunately, you have what, 18,000 tribal members, 18 plus or minus, and you take that and by the time you whittle it down to the amount of 21-year-old enrolled members that are interested in law enforcement, you have a small hiring pool.
Daly said doing so will spark interest among high schoolers in setting a goal to start the process when they turn 21.
The department is also unique compared to other police departments in the area.
“When it comes to training, we have to do more when it comes as far as certifications. For example, tribal law enforcement has to, if you're cross-deputized with BIA, not only do you have to qualify in your firearm through the state of Oklahoma, you have to qualify through the feds. And the feds, you got to do twice a year,” he said. “So, we got a difference of 25 rounds for the state, 60 rounds per qualification for the federal government. But yet, we're still kind of looked down upon, I guess, in a sense of like, ‘Oh, you guys are, don't have as much authority, you can't do nearly as much.’ But the perception out there with the public is they just don't know. They think we're the same as everybody. When we don't do it, they think we're not doing as far as our job.”
Daly said that ties in with getting connected with the public.
“We're limited, i.e., these lawnmowers. We can't just run around, chase somebody, pull somebody over in the city limits of Lawton just because. Even if we know they have our stuff, right, we got to have probable cause. And just because somebody has the same make, lawnmower in the back of their vehicle doesn't necessarily make it our lawnmower. So those agreements help,” he said. “But one of the things that I would like to do is, and one of the things we are already starting to do, is our community policing right now with Lt. Chavez is outstanding. The problem is right now…it's one individual. I want to incorporate the entire department to get out there and have those relationships with the people, with the community, with the businesses, not just one individual. And I think that's one of the things that we've missing and missed over the years is getting back to the basics, getting back to knowing who we serve. I think that's very, as far as important. I think we've missed that. And from what I've heard, as far as from the community, it's been noted.”
The department will also educate people more about what CNPD does.
“There's training that we're missing. Because of funding, we've had to do a lot of in-service training, a lot of in-house training, a lot of sponsor-type training. And we don't have, we have missed out, I think, on a lot of quality type training for our guys. I truly believe that if we have better-trained officers and better-equipped officers, you're going to have better-performing officers. You know, and right now with budget cuts, the way that it has been for everybody, you know, does hurt over the last, you know, five years, really…Things cost more now, right? Equipment. Radio is $8,500 a pop. People don't realize that. There's a lot of things that we want to communicate more with the people so they understand. So that when we are asking for a several-million-dollar budget, they understand that, ‘Hey, a million dollars is going just for personnel, just for salaries, just for benefits, just for all those things,’” Daly said. “But all this, the kind of equipment that we're wanting. Vehicles right now, last time we had any vehicles was 2021. So, our fleet is killing us right now. We're in the process of switching to GSA vehicles, but everybody knows the U.S. government's on their own time, and they're in no hurry. So, eventually we will be switching to a GSA fleet, which will help as far as in the long run. Because right now, just about everything we have is over 100,000 miles, and anybody that owns a vehicle knows once you hit 100,000 miles, your maintenance costs increased tremendously. Not to mention to us, it's a safety factor. We're expected to run all over three different counties and get there in the blink of an eye, but they have to do it safely, and they have to do it with equipment to get the officers there.”
CNPD is working on more federal grants. He said cleaning up the casinos will also help make them a safer environment, thus benefiting the business.
“If we can't clean up the casinos, if we can't get the riffraff out of there, and you can't get quality people in there to pay, the ones that have the money, not the ones with the nickels and the dimes, it's going to affect as far as that revenue,” Daly said. “And we can complain all we want at the end of the year, but ultimately, what it comes down to is, you know, ‘Look, invest in us. Let us invest in you.’ You know, give us the resources, give us the funding, help give us the equipment that we need, and the training to get these guys as far as to the standard that they expect us to be at and to maintain that standard and even exceed that standard. Help us click this place to clean the casinos up. Best thing that they've ever done so far is with the cops that we have at the casinos, but we don't have enough of them. There's not enough. There's only a few, and we need to expand that more. Substation is coming together. We're going to be moving down into that. We'll have a greater presence there at CNC and Lawton, but you know, we're spread out. I don't know if you've ever drift left from here and drove down the Red River, but trying to do that lights and sirens, you can only drive so fast, and it still takes forever to get there.”
The Comanche Nation gathered for the swearing-in ceremony, including police officers, CBC, Comanche Nation Chairman Forrest Tahdooahnippah and Tribal Administrator Lisa Dawsey.
