BIA Director Michael Black to Keynote 22th Annual Indian Country Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Service

WASHINGTON – Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Director Michael Black will deliver the keynote address at the 22st Annual Indian Country Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Service on Thursday, May 2, 2012. The Office of Justice Services hosts the event at the Bureau of Indian Affairs United States Indian Police Academy in Artesia, N.M. to honor and commemorate tribal, state, local and federal law enforcement officers working on federal Indian lands and in tribal communities who have given their lives in the line of duty.

Two names will be added at the event bringing the total number of fallen officers listed on the memorial to 101. Those to be added at this year’s ceremony are:

Mahnomen County Deputy Sherriff Christopher Lee Dewey, who was fatally wounded on February 18, 2009, while responding with another officer to a report of a car in the ditch. As they assisted a tow truck operator, the officers heard gun shots at a nearby residence and responded. They were approached by two men and a confrontation occurred. Deputy Dewey was shot several times and after many months of treatment and rehabilitation, he succumbed to his injuries on August 10, 2010.

Chitimacha Tribal Police Sergeant Frederick Albert Riggenbach, was killed on January 26, 2013. Officer Riggenbach responded to a request for assistance at a residence and vehicle fire. When he arrived, there were two St. Mary Parish Deputies in a patrol unit backing away from the scene. At that same time an armed suspect shot at the officers, who returned fire. Both deputies were wounded in the exchange. Sergeant Riggenbach continued to engage and was critically wounded from gunshots from the armed subject.

The OJS holds the service in conjunction with other law enforcement organizations and agencies including the International Association of Chiefs of Police Indian Country Law Enforcement Section, the National Sheriffs’ Association, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC). The memorial and the Indian Police Academy are located on the FLETC campus in Artesia.

The Indian Country Law Enforcement Officers Memorial was first dedicated on May 7, 1992, at the U.S. Indian Police Academy, which was then in Marana, Ariz. The academy and memorial were later moved to their present site, where the memorial was re-dedicated on May 6, 1993.

The earliest name inscribed on the memorial dates to 1852. In addition to those from BIA and tribal law enforcement, officers listed represent the U.S. Border Patrol, the New Mexico State Police, the Arizona Department of Public Safety, the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. Customs Bureau, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The list includes one female officer, from the Navajo Nation Department of Public Safety, who was killed in 1998; a father and son, both BIA officers, who died in 1998 and 2001, respectively; and two FBI agents killed on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in 1975.

The memorial’s design is based on indigenous design concepts. Comprised of three granite markers sited within a circular walkway lined with sage, a plant of spiritual significance to many tribes, the memorial includes four planters filled with foliage in colors representing people of all races. The planters represent the four directions and are located near the walkway’s entrance.

WHO: Michael Black, Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs, DOI

Joe LaPorte, Chairman, International Association of Chiefs of Police

Robert E. Bryant, Chief of Police, Penobscot Nation Police Department

Joseph Wright, Field Training Directorate, FLETC, Dept. of Homeland Security

Blaise Smith, Chief of Police, Chitimacha Tribal Police Department

Darren Cruzan, Deputy Bureau Director, Office of Justice Services,

Bureau of Indian Affairs, DOI

WHAT: BIA Director Black will deliver the keynote address at the 22st

Annual Indian Country Law Enforcement Officers’ Memorial Service, where the names of two fallen officers will be added to the memorial.

WHEN: 10:00 a.m. (local time), Thursday, May 2, 2013.

WHERE: United States Indian Police Academy, DHS Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, 1300 West Richey Avenue, Artesia, N.M. Phone: 505-748-8151.