BIA and NMAI host exhibit in honor of Indian Country officers

Friday, May 10, 2013  

The Indian Country Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Artesia, New Mexico. Photo Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs and the National Museum of the American Indian will host a special exhibit next week in honor of Indian Country's fallen police officers.

The exhibit for the Indian Country Law Enforcement Officers Memorial will be installed at the NMAI's Potomac Atrium from May 13-May 17. The event is timed with National Police Week.

“National Police Week is an important opportunity to educate the public about the Indian Country Law Enforcement Officers Memorial and honor those in law enforcement who have given their lives in the line of duty in Indian Country,” said Assistant Secretary Kevin Washburn, the head of the BIA. “I want to thank the National Museum of the American Indian and its director, Kevin Gover, for co-hosting this special exhibit on the Memorial.”

“The National Museum of the American Indian is pleased and proud to host this special exhibit of the Indian Country Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in conjunction with the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services,” said Director Kevin Gover. “It is only fitting that the Museum, which is home to so much of Indian Country’s history, should acknowledge during National Police Week those law enforcement officers who have given their lives to protect Indian people.”

The Indian Country Law Enforcement Officers Memorial includes the names of 101 officers who died in the line of duty in Indian Country. Two names were added this year -- Chitimacha Tribe Police Sergeant Frederick Albert Riggenbach, who was fatally shot on January 26, 2013, while supporting fellow officers; and Mahnomen County Deputy Sherriff Christopher Lee Dewey, who died on August 10, 2010, after being shot while working on the White Earth Nation in Minnesota on February 18, 2009.

Get the Story:
Press Release: National Museum of the American Indian and Bureau of Indian Affairs to Co-Host Special Indian Country Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Exhibit During National Police Week in D.C. (BIA 5/10)