TAHLEQUAH – From a robot dog to artificial intelligence, the Cherokee Nation Marshal Service is embracing new technologies to improve safety and efficiency.
Marshal Daniel Mead says adoption of modern tech has enhanced the overall effectiveness of his department.
“These tools support a wide range of public safety functions, including emergency response, situational awareness and investigative work,” Mead said. “We are also working toward enhanced dispatch and coordination capabilities that would strengthen how information is gathered and shared during critical incidents, helping responders make informed decisions while prioritizing officer and community safety.”
Like other law enforcement agencies across the country, the tribe’s Marshal Service is adopting technology equipped with AI.
“Technology speeds up investigations by enabling real-time intelligence collection, digital forensics and advanced surveillance supported by AI,” Mead said. “Data analytics help our investigators identify patterns and connections between suspects, locations and incidents, allowing cases to be solved more quickly, safely and accurately.”
Introduced to the force last year, a robotic dog equipped with cameras and sensors is used for reconnaissance in dangerous or hard-to-reach environments. It was purchased with a nearly $250,000 grant from the federal Tribal Homeland Security Grant Program.
“It supports our search-and-rescue efforts, evidence recovery and scene assessment while reducing risk to Cherokee Nation marshals,” Mead said.
According to the nonprofit National Policing Institute, integration of technology within law enforcement agencies is not a new development.
“For example, computer-aided dispatch (CAD) databases, record management systems and body-worn cameras are considered standard technology in the field, with CAD systems having been in use for decades,” the organization says.
The Marshal Service, which has criminal jurisdiction over the 7,000-square-mile Cherokee Nation Reservation, has cross-deputization agreements with more than 90 law enforcement agencies. Mead says that many of his department’s programs are scalable and can be adopted by other agencies.
“Cherokee Nation has so many cross-deputization agreements in place that it expands capabilities across the reservation of what we can share with county and municipal policing units,” he said. “That makes us all safer – Cherokee Nation citizens, as well as our neighbors. We also rely on these communications and data-sharing systems to improve coordination and enhance safety across the 14 counties.”
Despite the department’s upgrades, technology cannot replace human judgment, experience or decision-making, Mead said.
“It also cannot substitute the needed empathy and communication skills that are absolutely required when we support victims and engage with communities,” he added. “Technology enhances our work at Cherokee Nation, but people remain at the heart of effective law enforcement.”
In addition to the robotic dog, in 2025 the Marshal Service added two rescue tracking hounds to its unit. According to the tribe, the dogs, Tip and Odell, are used to find missing elders, children and sometimes fugitives.
“The Cherokee Nation is always expanding its public safety efforts and Marshal Service capabilities, and these are just a few of the ways it can help incorporate these four-legged friends into helping find Cherokee loved ones and combat the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People’s epidemic,” Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said.
A fourth canine, Mojo, was added to Cherokee Nation Emergency Management Services. Certified as a human remains detection canine, Mojo and his handler, Rebecca Bryn Isbell, an emergency community preparedness coordinator, will assist in missing persons cases and disaster deployments throughout the Cherokee Nation.
