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The Colville Tribal Police department will begin to handle law enforcement issues within the city limits of Elmer City beginning July 1.

Elmer City’s town council approved the agreement at its meeting Thursday night, after having been approached by Tribal Police Chief Cory Orr several weeks ago.

At that time Orr stated that tribal police would perform this function without cost to the town.

It has been several years since the town has had a formal police department. Its own police department was disbanded years ago due to budget constraints. Then Elmer City contracted with Coulee Dam to perform police services, but that was ended several years ago. Since that time, Elmer City has relied on the Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office.

The agreement with Colville Tribal Police states: “Patrol services shall include reactive response to calls from town citizens, residences, and businesses, proactive patrol to prevent and deter criminal activity and traffic patrol to enforce applicable tribal, state and town codes.”

In conjunction with this, the town council also approved an interlocal agreement for district court services with Okanogan County.

This agreement begins July 1, this year and continues through 2017.

The county agrees to provide all judicial and court services necessary to “adjudicate all matters arising from violations of traffic and non-traffic civil infractions.”

Under the agreement, the town will pay a filing fee of $35 for each new civil infraction filed with the county court system.