Menominee Tribe seeks applicants for police commission seat

Enrolled Menominee Tribal members interested in serving on the Police Commission had to submit a letter of interest by email or in person to the MITW Chairmans Office by 12 p.m. May 1, 2026, for a three-year term. The opening mattered because the commission sits close to everyday policing oversight on the Menominee Indian Reservation, where decisions can affect public trust, patrol priorities and how residents in Keshena, Neopit and Zoar experience safety.

The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin posted the Police Commission Interest Notice on May 22, 2026, and placed it alongside other governance items on its public-information feed. The tribe’s meetings calendar also showed a Menominee Tribal Police Commission Regular Meeting for May 28 at 5 p.m. in the MTL Committee Room, signaling that the vacancy was tied to ongoing public-safety work rather than a stand-alone notice.

The Menominee Tribal Police Department, led by Chief Keith Tourtillott, says its mission is to build trust, reduce crime, build a proactive patrol and create a safe community for current and future generations. Those goals help explain why the commission seat carries weight. The department’s public forms page includes a citizen complaint form, a community ride-along program and victim/witness resources, all of which connect commission oversight to accountability and community contact.

The tribe’s broader structure puts that work inside a larger system of self-government. Its legislature is a nine-member body elected by enrolled tribal members, and the police commission page lists Leah Pamonicutt as secretary and Angelica Tourtillott as a commission member. Spring 2026 also brought recruitment notices for the Law Enforcement Committee and other boards, showing that the tribe was filling multiple governance roles at once.

The police commission opening was not the first call for applicants. Earlier notices were posted on Dec. 27, 2024, Feb. 3, 2026 and April 2, 2026, suggesting the tribe had repeatedly sought tribal-member participation in police oversight. That pattern fits a public-safety system that has also leaned on broader crisis response: the tribe’s Drug Addiction Intervention Team says a March 2022 community meeting led to a declaration of emergency and a multidisciplinary response involving tribal police, the Menominee County Sheriff’s Department and other partners.

For Menominee County residents, the seat carries practical consequences. Police commission decisions can shape how the department communicates with the public, how it responds to complaints and how it balances enforcement with the trust needed for day-to-day policing on the reservation.