Historic Agreement Signed By Pacific County Sheriff And Shoalwater Tribe

On December 12th, 2012 at about 2:00 PM a law enforcement mutual aid agreement between the Pacific County Sheriff’s Office and the Shoalwater Bay Tribe was signed and finalized by Sheriff Scott Johnson and representatives of the Shoalwater Bay Tribe.

The agreement is a direct result of about two years of research and work put forth by Pacific County Prosecuting Attorney David Burke, tribal council, law enforcement and federal attorneys.

This agreement is strictly law enforcement based and will allow Shoalwater Bay Tribal officers to exercise arrest and process powers on non-tribal people for criminal violations within the boundaries of the reservation. This agreement benefits the tribal officers by not requiring them to wait for a commissioned county deputy to arrive at their location and assume their investigation.

The agreement benefits the Sheriff’s Office by allowing deputies to respond to other situations that need attention allowing the Tribal officers to investigate those crimes that happen in their jurisdiction.

Sheriff Scott Johnson stated, “According to federal prosecutors that participated with this process, the agreement is historic” “They believe that no other tribe in the state of Washington has such an agreement in place.”