By Stacy Thacker, University of Montana

The second episode of Navajo Cops on National Geographic had me on the edge of my seat, and more than a little homesick.

The episode started in Window Rock, Ariz. with a foot pursuit as a cop runs through a small pond of brown water (Oh, muddy water how I miss you). He followed the suspect to a house and removed a window screen only to find the guy, who claimed to have beaten a man in self-defense.

But I think the real question was why did he run? He was guilty enough to hop a fence, run through a small pond and leap through a window! Innocent? Well yeah, until proven guilty I guess.

The show then moves to Crownpoint, N.M., as the cops continue their hunt for the "Howler," hiking through the sunbaked rocks in full gear. (Oh, heat and dirt how I miss you) but as they climbed higher into the rocks the cameras revealed two sets of glowing eyes in a dark cave.

Maybe there are some things that I don’t miss. I remembered just how creepy and unexplored most of the reservation is. My longing for dirt and sagebrush was crushed by my screams and begging of the show to stop zooming in on the eyes.

What in the world was that?! Could National Geographic have caught the "Howler" on tape? While they couldn't quite record the odor, which smells like an "old billy goat," according to one of the officers, they did get the curdling howl it releases. Reports of mauled dogs would have been enough for me to leave the area and ask for reassignment but I guess that's why I'm not a Navajo Cop.

Chinle, Ariz., stomping grounds for the reservation’s most hardcore fair goers, yeah that's right, Window Rock, step it up! These Chinle natives are so dedicated they'll do anything and yes that includes stuffing three full-grown men in a trunk of a very small car. Three full-grown men! Trying to sneak into the Chinle fair!

The police in Chinle are used to this apparently because the female officer that opens the trunk asked casually, "What’s your business back here, boys?"

There was a heart melting moment among the chaos of the fair, a shot of the Navajo CodeTalkers float, while many of them have passed it was a moment of pride and calm as they flashed across the screen. That's the beauty of elders, even if they aren't war heroes they are still the heart of the reservation and while the chaos is all around them they still find a way to make you smile. Ahe'hee.

Following the fair, a ranger was out in the New Lands, near Sanders, Ariz., tracking elk poachers, which proved to be a bust but he did uncover a rotted elk carcass and a snake. Two things that would have had me running back to my unit but nope not Eddie Benally, he even picked up the leg of the carcass to show the cameras the hooves! Excuse me while I was my hands.

Like all good days they end the show in Ganado, Ariz., where an intoxicated man has been kicked in the head by the very horse he was training. I doubt he was training him to kick him in the head but the officer on the scene sided with the horse and said "I can't blame the animal for doing what it did." Neither can we! Please don't train a horse while intoxicated.

Will the cops capture the "Howler?" Or will they capture a skinwalker? Which is now being referred to as a Navajo witch that deals with sickness and death. I guess werewolf was too inaccurate, or too Twilight-y. Oh well. I'll have to wait until next week but between now and then I'll be keeping my eye on the police blotter.

Stacy Thacker (Navajo) is from Navajo, N.M.