WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Tara Mac Lean Sweeney will address the 28th Annual Indian Country Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial Service taking place Thursday, May 2, 2019, at the United States Indian Police Academy in Artesia, N.M.
The Indian Country Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial Service honors tribal, state, local and federal law enforcement officers who have given their lives in the line of duty while serving on federal Indian lands and in tribal communities. It is also the occasion when the names of officers to be added to the Indian Country Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial monument at the academy are formally announced.
The 28th Annual Indian Country Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial Service will be live-streamed. To view the event, visit the service’s website and type in the password “biamemorial.”
WHO: Tara Mac Lean Sweeney, Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI); Master of Ceremony Charles Addington, Deputy Bureau Director, BIA-Office of Justice Services, DOI; Thomas J. Walters, Director, Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC), Glencoe, Ga.; Bill Denke, Indian Section Chairman, International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP).
WHAT: Assistant Secretary Sweeney will address attendees to the 28th Annual Indian Country Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial Service where the names of three fallen law enforcement officers will be added to the memorial.
WHEN: Thursday, May 2, 2019, at 10:00 a.m. MDT.
WHERE: BIA Indian Police Academy, DHS Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers, 1300 West Richey Avenue, Artesia, N.M. Phone (505) 748-8151 for directions.
CREDENTIALS: This invitation is extended to working media representatives, who are required to display sanctioned media credentials for admittance to the event. Press seating will be provided. Credentialed media covering the event should be in place by 9:45 a.m. for the program beginning at 10:00 a.m.
To view an image of the Indian Country Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial and a list of the officers’ names inscribed on it, visit the FLETC website.
The event is held annually on the first Thursday in May. BIA-OJS conducts the memorial service in conjunction with IACP’s Indian Country Law Enforcement Section and other law enforcement organizations and agencies including the National Sheriffs’ Association and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers in Artesia, where the monument, academy and memorial service are located. The names of three officers will be added at this year’s ceremony bringing the total number listed on the memorial to 119:
- Sac & Fox Nation Police Department Officer Nathan B. Graves who, on January 24, 2017, was killed when his patrol car was struck head-on by an oncoming vehicle that was attempting to pass another car.
- Omaha Nation Law Enforcement Services Police Sergeant Uga’shon Curtis W. Blackbird who, on March 26, 2017, was killed in a vehicle crash that occurred when he was responding to a call and, while driving along a closed section of Nebraska Highway 94 in a period of dense fog, his patrol car struck a construction crane.
- Salt River Police Department Officer Clayton Joel Townsend who, on January 8, 2019, was struck and killed while approaching a vehicle on a traffic stop. The subject driver who struck him admitted to texting and driving at the time of the crash.
-DOI-
