Former FBI Head Visits Sioux Falls

The former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation made a stop in Sioux Falls Wednesday night.

Louis Freeh spoke before a crowd of nearly 2,000 law enforcement officials in the annual South Dakota Law Enforcement Dinner.

“We associate a lot of heroism with our military. But obviously the men and women who are first in the line of enforcement evidence the same values and courage,” Freeh said.

Freeh was responsible for heading the Penn State University sex scandal investigation that exposed coach Joe Paterno and university officials as they sought to protect the university's reputation, rather than turn in assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. He has also worked the Oklahoma City and Olympic Park bombings, among other high profile cases.

“The quality of their work and the integrity is what you remember more than the individual cases or the result. It's a privilege to work with these kinds of people,” Freeh said.

Many of the investigators of those famous cases did the same work local officers do each day. Freeh said without cooperation between the groups investigating and prosecuting crimes would be more difficult.

“It's a great way to thanks to them and their families who also served,” Freeh said.

This dinner is an annual game feed for South Dakota's law officers. It's also a charity night that's raised more than $1.5 million for South Dakota children's charities.