Charlieann Herkshan, a Victim Advocate who began working for Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission Police Department in 2019. Her job is to provide vital services and support to tribal members who have been victims of a crime and to respond to crises and crimes at the river in-lieu and treaty fishing access sites. She responds to crisis spanning domestic violence, sexual assault, child welfare cases, and burglary.

As the only tribal victim advocate in the entire region, she is tasked with serving with tribal members in Zone 6 (the Mid-Columbia Region) including the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Yakama Nation, Celilo Village, and the Nez Perce in Idaho. These four tribes share a commonality with the 1855 fishing rights treaties between the United States Government and the tribes.

“Prior to these four tribes being placed on the reservations, our people were from here, from the Columbia River and Celilo Falls,” said Herkshan. “That’s why CRITFIC became a commissions, to make sure that we’re advocating for those sovereign rights and that our treaty fisherman are being treated with respect by wardens on the river.”

Since 1982 Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission has had its own enforcement team, but it wasn’t until 2010 that the enforcement team was able to being responding to both fishing and non-fishing related crimes at the treaty fishing and in-lieu sites. A brief history of the agency can be found here.