The fundamental duty of the Office of the Tillamook County Sheriff is to serve our fellow man; to safeguard the lives and property of those in our community; to protect the innocent, the weak, and the peaceful against violence or disorder; and to respect the Constitutional rights of all men to liberty, equality, and justice.
It is our goal that the members of our office will never act officiously or permit personal feelings, prejudices, animosities, or friendships to influence our decisions. We will be uncompromising on criminal activity and will relentlessly prosecute those who would prey upon others in our community, we will enforce the law courteously and appropriately without fear or favor, malice or ill will, never employing unnecessary force or violence and never accepting gratuities. We will strive to do what is right even when no one is looking, and we will hold each one of us accountable for our actions.
Our badges are a symbol of public faith, and we accept it as a public trust to be held so long as we are true to the ethics of law enforcement. We will constantly strive to achieve these objectives and ideals, dedicating ourselves to the betterment of our society and profession.
The Sheriff’s Office recognizes there are a lot of concerning things happening in communities all over our state and country. We believe in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, who said, “Violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem: it merely creates new and more complicated ones. Violence is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding: it seeks to annihilate rather than convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialog. Violence ends up defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers.”