The Dakota Ojibway Police Service resumed operations in Long Plain First Nation last week after a 19 year hiatus.

Chief Dennis Meeches says the decision was made about five years ago.

"There was a referendum in, I think, 2011. I wasn't in office back then, but it was a standing referendum that needed to be acted upon for Long Plain First Nation. For the past number of years since 1997 we've had RCMP police Long Plain First Nation. Now, the challenge was that we weren't getting 24/7 police services. I mean, the RCMP did a tremendous job, a good job. But we need full-time policing."

He notes the community's size and series of incidents required more service than the RCMP could provide.

"They came out periodically, on incident basis and calls that happened, but Long Plain is a very large community. And of course, a lot of people were concerned about the RCMP policing services. There were just too many things happening to Long Plain. Many of our people felt that RCMP were just unable to do the policing that Long Plain requires. I know there's concern in Long Plain even with the return of DOPS, because of a previous incident that happened there in '97."

Meeches understands concerns expressed by the RM or Portage la Prairie over a decrease in RCMP rural service.

"The concerns of the RM about losing RCMP policing services within the RM, that's the RM. I can't speak for them. I can only speak for Long Plain First Nation. The head office for DOPS is in our urban reserve in Portage la Prairie, but on the main reserve we will have a police station on Long Plain again."

He outlines the inspiration behind the change.

"For the most part, the referendum gave us the authority to go forward and have the return of the Dakota Ojibway Police Service. It kind of happened with Sioux Valley requesting RCMP to return to their community for policing services. There was an opportunity that presented itself. DOPS had a detachment. Because of our referendum there were negotiations, and we have requested their return. And they began policing Thursday of last week."