Comanche Nation Police Department Hires Chief of Police
In May 2024, John Journeycake became chief of the Comanche Nation Police (CNPD).
He began his career in 2001 with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and worked for five years as a patrolman. In 2005, he came to Oklahoma and became a Lieutenant Supervisory Police Officer for the Concho Agency in El Reno.
“As of 2008, the drug enforcement had expanded this division in BIA tremendously with the new administration, and one of those positions came open within the western district of Oklahoma, and I applied for it and received that position,” Journeycake said. “So, since 2008 until Friday the 17 of May, I was a special agent for the drug enforcement.”
He has 23 years of federal service experience with the BIA.
“I was on a specialized team which we called the Erad Team and we did a lot of outdoor missions, desert missions down in south of Tucson at the Tohono reservation,” Journeycake said. “We did a lot of marijuana missions there for EROC in California. We've been to Yakima. We've been all over everything on the western side of the United States doing high-risk warrants, search warrants, arrest warrants. So, you know, that was part of the team that we were on that I was actually was a member of, and it required a lot of traveling.”
He said he got tired of traveling, and when the position of chief of CNPD opened up, Journeycake applied.
“My main goal is to bring the department up to its maximum capacity of police officers. Right now, we're down to 16 sworn officers, but that doesn't allow what we need for more coverage. With the vast growing of the casinos and the more of the rural residencies that we have, manpower is required,” he said. “Not to mention we are in an agreement with a lot of the surrounding communities where we are cross-deputized with their agencies, which I know we're lack of manpower, but it helps not only their police force but ours, too, to work together, and you know we all fight the same crime, but it's better to have more people on your side when you're out there alone.”
Journeycake said another goal is to provide more area coverage.
“I know our casinos are within the perimeters of the boundaries of the nation,” he said. “Devol is one of them way down south, and I'd like to in those areas where we are very limited to a response time because of the distance; I'd like to set up satellite stations to where I would have an officer readily available in that area. Kind of make our nation into separate districts within law enforcement so that way we have certain officers in one district, certain officers in another.”
Journeycake hopes to set up a system like Crime Stoppers for tribal members to contact the police department anonymously.
He said the department is important to establish unity in communities.
“Not just our members but the community also because we're not just serving just our members. I mean that is our goal is to service our members but within the communities they live in and reside in,” Journeycake said. “That's what we need to do is to show that the unity of either agency, whether it's the county, the local PD, that they see the Comanche Nation Police units come through and they're like, ‘Hey, these guys are crossed up. They're going to help not just their own people, but they're going to help the surrounding community also.’”
He said future decisions will be implemented later on.
“There's a lot going on at this point. I know we're lack of personnel, but we're still moving strong, and that will eventually take place,” Journeycake said. “But I think we're moving the right place right now; as long as we have the capabilities and resources for our members to come in and feel safe here, that's a good start.”
He said the police being active in the community is also important.
“That's going to give us the input that we need from our community…what would call feedback of what they think we need to do and or what we don't need to do, and we'll listen to that,” Journeycake said.
