James Swan, president of United Urban Warrior Society, Rapid City, launches his group’s first urban patrol in the city’s downtown. Flanking him are Tom Cheyenne and Juliio Larson, also members of UUWS. Courtesy photo/uuwsRAPID CITY, S.D. – Mission accomplished.

“Our only goal was to get them to see us … to get them to know us,” said James Swan, organizer of Rapid City’s new Urban Patrols – a program that’s designed to prevent conflict between Indians and non-Indians.



“I think that’s just what happened,” said the 49-year-old former U.S. Navy veteran, who was characterizing the first of what is expected to become regular Thursday evening urban patrols.

Swan, who served as master of arms in the Navy, has worked casino security positions and as a bouncer at several Rapid City taverns.

United Urban Warrior Society (UUWS) launched the first Urban Patrols on July 15 in a downtown area across from Dakota Drum in the 600-block of Main Street.

“We wanted everyone to know that we are here (downtown) in a positive way,” said Swan, an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and longtime Rapid City resident.

Swan said that joining him for the Urban Patrols’ maiden summer-night journey were Tom Cheyenne and Julio Larson, both American Indian UUWS members. Swan, a journeyman machinist, is president of UUWS and organizer for the urban-patrol program.

“We met the cops (officers of the Rapid City Police Department) about 6 p.m. and walked the area until the town essentially closed down,” said Swan, whose family was one of many that lost its home during the 1972 Rapid Creek flood.

Leading the city’s downtown police contingent was Capt. Doug Thrash. Police Chief Police Chief Steve Allender was out of town.

A self-described activist, Swan said his patrol squad encountered a “mixed crowd” of Indians and non-Indians during its time on the street, walking past restaurants, pubs and retail outlets in an area that borders Seventh Street.

“It was a mix of tourists and locals,” he said. “Some were doing their own thing. Others were rubber-necking to see what was going where we were. The media drew some of that attention, too. We walked in and near the events area.”

Designed to reduced the hot-button tension that can – and sometimes does – spark into confrontations among races in Rapid City, the patrols have been a long time coming, according to Swan, who moved with his family to Seattle and attended an all-Indian high school before returning to the Black Hills in 1992.

UUWS’s Urban Patrols is being created around “community-policing standards,” said Swan, who said he has gathered foundational information from similar successful patrols in Minneapolis, Minn., and San Diego, Calif. – both municipalities with substantial ethnic diversity.

Swan said that Western Oregon State University is teaching courses on community policing for Indians to “take back to reservations.”

Meanwhile, support is building beyond law enforcement, said Swan, who confirmed that SANI-T (Society for the Advancement of Native Interests-Today) Executive Director Laurette Pourier has signed on to the concept.

SANI-T’s motto is “Together We Can.”

“We don’t want anyone to be intimidated by us,” said Swan, who is launching a membership drive – recruiting both men and women – for the two-to-three person Urban Patrols teams – teams that must meet strict age, character and training requirements.

Potential patrol squad members must be at least 18 years old, display solid-citizenship behavior – no felony criminal record – and either have, or be willing to get, basic training in such things as First Aid, CPR and first-responder skills.

“The cops greeted us with enthusiasm,” said Swan, who recently championed a downtown Rapid City protest march regarding the shooting death of Christopher J. Capps, 22, a college-bound Oglala Lakota man gunned down in May by Deputy David Olson of the Pennington County Sheriff’s Department.

Though the deputy fired five rounds into Capps at near point-blank range, the shooting was ruled justified, triggering anger among the Rapid City Indian community.

“We want to get involved in Native community issues, conflicts and activities,” said Swan, noting that his squad members will continue to wear organizational uniforms – red T-shirts, black vests and berets.

“We hope to do more than patrol the streets. We want to be at Indian events, concerts, powwows,” he said. “We want to be a friendly presence. Our reception Thursday was awesome.”

Thursday evening’s Urban Patrols launch came after months of planning and “several meetings” with Rapid City police, including Allender, who publicly supports Swan’s patrol program.

A former Rapid City Neighborhood Watch block captain, Swan dismissed as “ignorant” and “wrong-headed” post-patrol criticism that his volunteers are “vigilantes” and/or “Nazi-inspired.”

“We aren’t here to drive around from neighborhood to neighborhood checking on people,” said Swan. “Most all of our patrol squad members and potential members have jobs, families and other activities. They aren’t going to be checking on people’s lives.”

Dismissing criticism that his patrol group was involved in “Indian politics,” Swan said that Urban Patrols has “no such interest.”

“Community policing doesn’t involve politics. In fact, it (community policing) is a traditional part of our people’s culture. We’re trying to be a deterrent,” Swan said.

“And, by the way, this walking is really good,” he said. “It keeps me off the couch.”


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