Serving in Edgartown, serving fellow tribal members

Pursuing a career in law enforcement allowed four officers in the Edgartown Police Department to learn more about their culture from the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) while giving back to the community that opened doors for them. 

Four Edgartown Police officers — Det. Curtis Chandler, Patrolman Tyler Moreis, Special Officer Troy Vanderhoop, and Special Officer Zach Moreis — sat down with The Times to discuss their experiences working in law enforcement as members of the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe. 

Although not working directly in Aquinnah, the current home base of the tribe, the officers still serve tribal citizens who live in other parts of the Island. 

“We end up impacting the tribal community as well, because our tribal members live all across the Island,” Chandler said.

The officers expressed an appreciation for the tribe, an important entity whose members opened doors for them, alongside giving them support. 

Chandler said he owes a lot of what he currently has to the tribe, particularly the experience and training he received while being a ranger. Rangers act as the law enforcement and emergency medical representatives for the Aquinnah Wampanoag Natural Resources Department. The ranger position was what actually piqued Chandler’s interest in law enforcement as a career, something he had never considered before. 

Tyler Moreis, who was also a ranger, agreed, and added that working in the position increased his knowledge of the community. He grew up in Oak Bluffs, and didn’t have as many opportunities to go to events that were being held in Aquinnah. “When I worked there, I was really exposed to the culture, and learned more about my own culture, which I thought was awesome,” he said. 

Additionally, Tyler Moreis said it was important to have tribal representation on Island police departments, particularly for members of the tribe. “Interacting with some tribal folk, I think they have a little bit more comfort speaking with us than they would otherwise,” he said, adding they can bring a cultural understanding in an interaction.

Among the opportunities that the tribe gave Chandler and Tyler Moreis was supporting their attendance at the Indian Police Academy in New Mexico, which is a federal academy that provides training to address needs in indigenous communities, particularly rural ones. 

“[In] a lot of Indian country there’s a lot of large open spaces that are pretty vast sometimes,” Chandler said. “Some of the Navajo guys have four different radio systems in their car, because their jurisdiction spans almost four states.” 

Tyler Moreis added that the academy brought new perspectives, since there were individuals from West Coast tribes he met during training. 

Zack Moreis said he grew up in Aquinnah for a “good portion” of his childhood, but moving away made him lose a bit of touch with the tribe. But seeing his fellow tribal members in other parts of the Island was like catching up with family. This familiarity also made these interactions easier while he was on the job. 

Vanderhoop said although he grew up in Aquinnah for part of his childhood, he did not have much experience of Wampanoag culture. “Now that I’m older, and especially in this job, I’d like to start getting into the culture and learning it,” he said.

Although the officers had a bit of a disconnect with the tribe while growing up, they said an effort was being made to learn more about their culture while being good representatives when on the job. 

“We represent the tribe pretty well, I think,” Chandler said.

Serving their fellow tribal members isn’t the only motivator for these officers. Chandler said Edgartown was always the goal for him.

“For me, I knew Edgartown was always the department I wanted to work for,” he said, bringing up that his wife grew up on Chappaquiddick, and that he wanted to raise their kids in Edgartown. 

Meanwhile, Tyler Moreis said he had many positive role models who were police officers, particularly in sports, with one of them being Chandler as a lacrosse coach. “I wanted to do something similar,” he said. “If they had an impact on me like that, maybe I could have an impact on somebody else.” 

Similarly, Vanderhoop said he grew up with a lot of emergency responders in his family, which fostered his interest in the field. “Law enforcement has always been the field I’ve been mostly interested in,” he said. “As a kid, and growing up, I never lost interest, and I’ve always had a passion for it.” 

Zach Moreis said his journey toward joining the Edgartown Police Department was a mixture of the other three officers’ experiences. He interned at the Natural Resources Department and worked under Tyler Moreis, later becoming a summer traffic officer in Edgartown. Zach Moreis would become a ranger before making his way to joining Edgartown. “A lot of guys here coached me in lacrosse and football,” Zach Moreis said, who added that building these relationships — which were like having father figures — helped spark his interest in entering law enforcement. 

The officers told The Times that while serving the Island, they hope to be able to inspire the next generation of Island police officers. They also had high praise for the Edgartown Police Department, calling it a tight-knit group with a positive relationship with the community.

Edgartown Police Chief Bruce McNamee said these were a great group of officers, and the department looked forward to seeing them progress in their careers.

“Any police department knows the best-qualified candidates are local ones, and who can be more local than the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head?” he said.