Washington - The Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Neal McCaleb commended Walker River Paiute Reservation Chief of Police Ray East for his courageous act of rescuing the 10-year old California girl abducted from her home in Riverside, CA on Tuesday morning.
"It's great that the incident ended with the little girl safely being returned to her family," said the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs. "I commend Chief of Police East for his heroic effort and I believe his actions speak to the caliber of tribal police officers we have working remote reservations nationwide."
A 10-year veteran of the Walker River Reservation police force, Mr. East stopped the vehicle driven by the 68 year-old perpetrator 10 minutes after receiving notification from Nevada Highway Patrol that the blue pickup truck had been spotted in his area.
A father of five, East said the arrest was the pinnacle of his law enforcement career. "As a father, I'd be terrified if one of them were taken. All too often, bad things happen. This is a breath of fresh air." Overseeing the eight-person tribal police department that patrol residential and rural areas of the 1,200 square mile reservation located 100 miles south of Reno, Nevada. Chief of Police East never realized he would play such a role in this type of crime. "You go to work every day and not think that you can have such an impact on someone's life," he said. "It's a really good feeling to know that we did our job."
The Walker River Paiute Tribe operates their tribal police department under Public Law 93-638 and receives funding and training from the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Law Enforcement Services. The BIA-OLES operates a central office and six districts that provides public safety, investigative and detention services for fifty-four of the two hundred American Indian law enforcement programs, many tribes operate their law enforcement department under Public Law 93-638 and original tribal agreements.
