Navajo Police: Class 57

A seemingly honest and true portrayal of the lack of resources and federal funding for the Native American reservations law enforcement emergency response teams are overwhelmed due to lack of sufficient staff and future Cadets who must go through a grueling training process and background checks to become certified Navajo Tribal Police. This program watches several Cadets and there families go through their own training at the academy and home family life as the transition to being on the job on there own Navajo Tribe Police Officers.

A three series episode documentary that is absolutely binge worthy 👍

I am quite surprised at how interesting this series is. While it is about a group of young men and women going through training to become police officers on the Navajo Reservation, it is also about the difficulties the officers face once the training is completed. Not enough officers, not nearly enough, the very high crime happening in the area and the loss of traditional Navajo culture which has been a sustaining factor of living on the Rez and being ok.

Later in episode two the training officers were looking at what they might be able to do to get more recruits and keep more in the program. One person said that so many of these young people had grown up with constant put downs and criticism that the marine boot camp style was maybe too harsh. I really agree with this. I get it these people need to have certain qualities to be able to handle life as police in sometimes really dangerous or tricky situations, but first they have to make through the training. I felt many were leaving because of the fairly constant put downs, which in my opinion are not even necessary. Firmness and encouragement!

Other ideas I had (in case anyone is reading this) are;

Some focus on the spiritual at the beginning of class each day. Not necessarily a religious focus but something acknowledging some kind of guidance. It could be a non demoninational type prayer, smudging, the Serenity Prayer, a positive pep talk, asking for guidance or basically anything that brings that sort of focus.

I also think for these students and basically all police officers, everywhere, some sort of outlet for talking about the difficult experiences that happens with these jobs. This could help people get through the academy and also keep people out in the field more emotionally balanced.

Another area I really questioned is what the officers have to deal with once in the job, being alone alot, overworked and overwhelmed. This is not sustainable. Changes need to happen with the way things are being done for working officers. They are often alone and running from one really stressful situation to the next for their entire work day, day after day. It doesn't seem like just having more officers is going to fix this entirely.

Last is the actual recruitment requirements. One is the issue of not having any police record at all. This is going to make it almost impossible to get the numbers they need. There could be some leeway, like minimal crimes or crimes when very young but nothing since. And, possibly something like, okay you messed up but after this amount of time you can apply again. There is such a thing as redemption. There are also people who make life changes, such as recovery from alcohol or drug abuse. I am pretty sure this idea would be questioned but consider this is a specific situation that may call for something different than the usual academy training and requirement.

Okay one last thing(really). I really admire the people who go through this training and make it all the way. They could be the best recruitment tools available.

I'm glad to see the Navajo People represented in the mainstream. I grew up next to the Navajo Reservation and am familiar with the people, the culture, and the issues that affect the Diné people on the Reservation. Diné values include K'é (family), hózhó (harmony/balance), and ceremonies that celebrate mental, physical, and spiritual wellbeing. This doc takes until episode 2 before it points out some of the serious gaps in leadership at the Navajo Police Training Academy, which appear at odds with the traditional Navajo values of balance and harmony.

At one point, a training officer is lecturing the recruits on the impact of domestic abuse and generational trauma, citing the mental, emotional, economic, and physical impacts. This is juxtaposed next to scenes of the trainers themselves shaming, humiliating, discouraging, and belittling their own recruits. It's important to train first responders to get used to stress, but the Academy's heavily discouraging approach from day one focuses on how so many will fail, emphasizes how weak and "mental" they are for showing discomfort, and seems to be pushing out the recruits they so desperately need.

The Navajo Nation is a close-knit community who rely on the values of K'é and Hózhó to keep them grounded to their culture. They're aware of how the loss of their culture has led to many of the problems faced by people still trying to survive on the Reservation. However, the way the academy operates, it seems like there is a notable lack of support to succeed. I'm not even sure what the Academy's values are, except that it's difficult and important to be in control of yourself. At no point did I notice any of the trainers offer helpful advice on how to self-regulate during stressful exercises, how to breathe correctly to control your fear, how to feel feelings without allowing it to control you; instead it was constant put-downs and admonishment for these young people trying their level-best to live up the the impossible expectations set before them.

There's an attempt to tie community values into the training, but the Academy is clearly needing more of its own balance if it's to see its graduating officer numbers rise to the level of need on the Navajo Reservation.

This documentary reveals many shadows ad revelations well beyond the experience of a group of American Indians going tio police school. The devestating rise in crime and violence on drugs. The absolute decline and possible collapse of traditional culture, language, ceremony and familuy support. The Navajo are a people I spent time visiting in the 1980s. I do not even recognize the culture I see in this documenary. The most shocking and painful revelation was that most of the Navajo shown in this video are Christians. The Navajo had one of the most excellent indigenous religious traditions, that all seems gone now replaced with prayers to Jesus. I am an Ojibwe American Indian, like the Navajo, we Ojibwe have our own religious and spiritual traditions that we preserve and cherish. That the Christians have overtaken the traditional relion of Navajo was very hard to watch, to comprehend. This is like watching the victims try to protect themselves, as each cop and candidate is an inheritor of the oppression and denialism of US Federal policy, it is a documentary, well made, about a broken culture using its broken people to inch themselves forward. It is mostly, for me, a very sad and disheartening story.

Imagine watching a docuseries about police and then getting big mad because it's about police. Lol.

The funny thing is it's only kind of about police. It's primarily about an incredible, beautiful and resilient culture that survives despite the best efforts of the United States to grind it out of existence. Heroes--even flawed, traumatized ones--rise up to serve their community (and I'm talking about the activists, the EMTs, the elected officials, the keepers of the traditions every bit as much as the police) and preserve its legacy. Hard to find fault with this effort, and it's made beautifully to boot..