The Riverside County Sheriff's Department is seeking to improve its relationship with the 12 tribes in the southern California county.

Alex Tortes, a member of the Torres-Martinez Desert Cahuilla Tribe, runs the department's Tribal Liaison Unit. The goal is to inform deputies about tribal culture and to work more closely with tribes.

"It broke down a lot of barriers," Joe Rodriguez, a public safety director for the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians, told The Riverside Press-Enterprise of a session with the unit. "Anytime law enforcement goes into the community and explains how they do things and why they do things, it's a big plus."

The unit was created several years ago but didn't really get off the ground until a series of fatal shootings involving deputies and members of the Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians. The tribe and the county say they have worked to improve their relationship since the summer of 2008.

Get the Story:
Sheriffs Department, Indian tribes launch program to ease tension (The Riverside Press-Enterprise 7/7)
Soboba shootings in 2008 a friction that served to ignite change (The Riverside Press-Enterprise 7/7)