Public Safety

Protect and Serve:

This department constitutes an organization whose very existence is justified solely on the basis of service to the Chehalis Tribal Community. Although departmental regulations provide a working pattern, our official activity must not be confined within their limits. Actually, that portion of police service dealing with real criminals is only a small part of our overall responsibility. The greater percentage of our time and energy is expended on non-criminal service functions and in dealing with law abiding citizens of the community.

We should consider it our duty and privilege to not only protect our citizens from the criminal but also to protect and defend the rights guaranteed under our structure of government. It may be said that matters of civil law are not a basic police responsibility and, within reasonable limits, we should attempt to avoid becoming entangled in them.

However, many situations can best be served only when we assist in such matters. Our broad philosophy must embrace whole-hearted determination to protect and support individual rights, while at all times providing for the security of persons and property in the community. In meeting this objective, it is our duty to operate as a public service organization.