The national congress of American Indians is an organization in the United States that was established in 1944 to counter hostile laws and federal termination policies that were detrimental to the American Indian nation. It is devoted to the reinstatement of the exercise of the tribal government capabilities. The organization is the largest and oldest tribal government association in the United States and serves as a forum for development of policies that are consensus based among over 250 tribal governments from all regions in the country (www.ncai.org)
Indian nations consist of sovereign governments which are recognized in the United States constitution and also in many treaties with the United States president. The mission of NCAI is to sensitize the public and federal government on treaty rights, tribal self government and various federal policy issues that affect the tribal government. (www.ncai.org)
The NCIA is involved in legislative as well as administrative advocacy on behalf of its members. With the support of individual and tribal members, it is able to work towards promoting Indian treaty, traditional cultural and other rights. It strives to see to it that all members of tribe and individual members are well informed and educated on all issues affecting the well being of the Indian nation. (www.ncai.org)
It provides its membership with the Sentinel newspaper on quarterly basis thus they can access updates on the NCAI activities and also other information concerning legislation appropriations, court decisions and regulatory activities. The organization is nonprofit making thus rely primarily on membership dues and contributions. It is currently involved in issues and activities such as promotion of services and programmes which will benefit Indian families especially the youth and elders, supporting promoting Indian education including Head Start, elementary, post secondary as well as adult education, improving Indian healthcare, supporting natural resource management and environmental protection, promoting the rights of Indian economic opportunities and also their cultural resources and rights of religious freedom. (www.ncai.org)
The Hispanic American police command Officers Association is also a non profit making national organization that consist of command level officers from county, local, state and federal law enforcement agencies in the US and Puerto Rico. It is organized into various chapters nationwide and provides annual national conferences for training and networking as well as establishing partnerships in the law enforcement profession (www.ncai.org)
. The organization is leading nationally and its mission is to recruit, retain and promote qualified Hispanic Americans in the area of law enforcement. It is also involved in improving community understanding, involvement and support through developing meaningful partnerships and outreach opportunities. The organization offers opportunities for development, information sharing and community service projects (www.ncai.org)
.In its partnership efforts it sought the support of the office of Community Oriented policing Services which helped in conducting a pilot campaign on traffic safety within three Hispanic communities. (COPS) mission is to advance community policing through partnership with the community to prevent and solve problems. HAPCDA has come up with a pilot education programs on traffic and public safety. It focuses on educating community based organizations providers about safety who then in turn educate recent Hispanic immigrants. They also increase the awareness of law enforcement personnel about the needs of the recent immigrants so as to improve the relations between them (www.ncai.org)
. The organization has also designed various activities in order to achieve its educational goals. These include establishing a public safety information system network of traffic safety promoters and community activists with the ability to address information requirements of Hispanic immigrants. The project seeks to propagate best practices through education and training law enforcement community, Hispanic based community based organizations and the entire population. (www.ncai.org)
Since motor vehicle crashes are the leading causes of deaths and injury in the entire population, this initiative is important for the Hispanic population since it is estimated that they are eight times more likely to be affected by the accidents than other groups in the general population. (www.ncai.org)
REFERENCE
www.ncai.org/law-enforcement-and-tribal-cou34.0html. Accessed on 15th May, 2008
