The Navajo Nation has roughly 250 police officers for some 27,000 square miles – an area slightly larger than West Virginia. Jurisdictional constraints for county police also mean that many on the reservation cannot depend on a speedy response to crime. In November 2021, Utah’s Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls Task Force heard tribal residents’ concerns over a lack of law enforcement. Today on the news, we visit areas within the Navajo Nation in southern Utah to hear about the issue and what residents want. Plus, amid concerns about the unbalanced ratio of short-term to long-term rentals in the county, Grand’s commissioners denied a rezone request related to a proposed luxury campground.

// Show Notes //

Photo: Marilyn Holly is the vice president of the Red Mesa chapter house in the Navajo Nation. She says the community feels neglected by law enforcement.

// Navajo Police Department Organizational Assessment Spring 2021

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ISYTSnsD4DAdKulDCIn1ptztjSvPhuP-/view

// Previous KZMU reporting on Entrada Camps

https://www.kzmu.org/thursday-february-3-2022/

and

https://www.kzmu.org/are-new-glamping-proposals-camping-gentrification-or-do-they-help-increase-access-to-the-outdoors/