This Week’s Episode of Reveal: What Happens When Tribal Cops Vanish?

When Braven Glenn was killed in a car wreck, his mother wanted answers. It took more than two years to find them.

Old Bull visits the memorial placed where Braven died.Tailyr Irvine

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

When Braven Glenn, a 17-year-old boy, was killed in a car wreck, the early details made little sense to his mother, Blossom Old Bull. Officials told her police chased Glenn for speeding, and he ended up in a head-on collision with a train.

 

It took days for Old Bull to learn that the officer who chased her son worked for a new tribal police force patrolling the southeast Montana reservation: the Crow Nation Tribal Police Department. She went to its headquarters in a former Subway sandwich shop looking for answers. It was abandoned. The windows had been covered up.

The police department had just vanished, without any explanation. This week’s episode of Reveal, in partnership with Mother Jones reporter Samantha Michaels, focuses on the years-long search to find answers. 

After you listen to the episode, also check out filmmaker Mark Helenowski’s stunning film on the search for accountability, and how the US federal government has routinely failed tribes.

You can listen to more episodes of Reveal at PRX

 

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate